Re: Metric Time (was Re: Why not 13 months? (Was La Systeme Metrique))

Shitou Feng (shitou@hinet.net)
13 Oct 1995 03:45:18 GMT

Whittet <Whittet@shore.net> wrote:(maybe - I think i€m lost now!)
>My interest was to see whether or not the assumption that
>the foot was established as a standard of measure by the Egyptians
>from good measures of the circumference of the earth and the length
>of a year was reasonable.

>The Egyptian year was 360 days long. Interestingly enough the circumference
>of the earth is 360 degrees.

€Interestingly€, no, isn€t it simply the definition of degree *for them*? (
the sun [or perhaps Sirius in this case?] travels one degree in one day, thus
it is not at all strange that there are 360 degrees in a circle, and the
circumference of anything is 360 degrees, duh - sorry if i€m the 3,000th
person to say this!)

>A degree measures 365240 feet.
>Suppose that is because a degree was defined as 365240 feet

365240 still isn€t a very satisfactory number. Is it an actual Ancient
Egyptian calculation or yours?. Wouldn€t it make more sense if they derived
360,000 ft. in a degree? (Even if it is innacurrate, I think it would more
strongly point to some correlation here...)

>The circumference of the earth at the equator is 24902.72727 mi
>There are 36524 days in a century

..but there are only 360,000 days in an Ancient Egyptian century.
These ideas are interesting, and i€ve sure enjoyed working on the puzzle a
bit, but doesn't it seem like trying to MAKE things fit? I mean, there€s an
awful lot of fudge factors floating around here...

Maybe I don€t quite understand...

Shitou €wading deeper into the quagmire€