• @ShinyShelder
      link
      531 year ago

      Basically it’s because 12 is more divisible than 10. Factors of 10 are 1,2,5 and 10. 12 has 1,2,3,4,6 and 12. This gives more flexibility when discussing numbers. Our time is technically using base 12, which is why we can say quarter past 4 and it means a traditional whole number. That’s the argument I’ve heard anyway

      • tate
        link
        fedilink
        12
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        I believe this is also why we have 360 “degrees” in a circle, and not 365. The ancients hated that a year was clise to, but not exactly, 365 days. They chalked it up to the imperfection of Earth relative to the heavens. But a perfect year should be 360 days because it is divisible by every single digit number but 7.

        • @DrQuint
          link
          English
          151 year ago

          On the matter of days in a years, there’s also the idea of spliting the year into 13 months of 28 days each for a total of 364 days, closer matching the lunar cycle (and women’s body). Every day of the year would always be on the same day of the week.

          Then the extra day? It’s world day, a global holiday for celebrating the new year, and it doesn’t belong in any weekday. Sometimes we’d need an extra leap year day (just like right now with 29th February) so they would just both be world day.

          https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Fixed_Calendar

          Check for pros and cons.

          • tate
            link
            fedilink
            English
            41 year ago

            I’m very much in favor of the 13 month system. So hard to change such things now that we don’t have emperors.*

            *I’m also very much in favor of not having emperors though…

        • @huge_clock
          link
          31 year ago

          The ancients actually used a 360 day calendar and a bonus week of 5-6 days at the end before the new year started.

        • @DrQuint
          link
          English
          2
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          deleted by creator

    • @fujiwood
      link
      121 year ago

      Because 12 is more than 10 and more is better.

      • milkjug
        link
        English
        31 year ago

        7.62mm is more than 5.56mm but 'muricans (fuck yeah) still chose AR-15s because freedum. Where is your God now? /s

        • @Metatronz
          link
          31 year ago

          I’m american and chose 7.62 three times in the forms of SKS, AK-47, and AK-104. Big bullet go boom.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      101 year ago

      I’ve heard before it’s because 1/3 can be represented as a whole number.

      Just like feet, which can have 12 inches. But if we want to get more precise we start cutting inches into eighths for some reason 😅

      • tate
        link
        fedilink
        41 year ago

        old school carpenters’ squares also have inches divided in 12.

      • @LukeMedia
        link
        21 year ago

        I always use decimal inches wherever possible, personally. Makes so much more sense to me than “3/64” or some crap like that

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          5
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          A base 12 metric system is the best of all worlds. 1/3 of a cm is 0.4cm or 4.

          Your way seems like the worst of all worlds. What is 0.1 feet in inches? shrugs. If you’re going to use a different system to the people around you, why not use normal metric?

          • @LukeMedia
            link
            11 year ago

            I said decimal inches, not decimal feet. Also, I use them personally with my own projects, not when giving measurements to other people. 4.25 inches makes more sense to me than 4 1/4 inches. I could use cm but I’m more used to inches since I live in the US. If I were to give my measurements to someone else I’d use fractions, since that is the standard here.