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During the French Revolution, they tried to make a right angle have 100 degrees and even recomputed all new trig tables for this new standard. It obviously did

by ekelsen 11mo ago

During the French Revolution, they tried to make a right angle have 100 degrees and even recomputed all new trig tables for this new standard. It obviously did not catch on :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gradian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gradian

rurp 11mo ago
The Indiana pi bill mandated certain mathematical values be changed to the wrong value. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_pi_bill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_pi_bill
- JumpCrisscross 11mo ago
  “The bill, written by a physician and an amateur mathematician, never became law.”
onraglanroad 11mo ago
There's no reason you can't have 400 degrees in a circle and therefore 100 for a right angle. It's a degree scale: you can choose any number you want.
- ekelsen 11mo ago
  Of course that's true, that doesn't mean you should.
- taftster 11mo ago
  But I can't subdivide 400 in to as many ways as 360. Think about the pie industry. They could be put out of business!!
  - hathawsh 11mo ago
    I usually want to cut pies into 14 pieces. Some might want 11 or 13. (17 is just too many.) I demand that we implement a system where a circle is 2 * 3 * 4 * 5 * 7 * 3 * 11 * 13 = 360360 degrees, so that we can cut pies evenly at anywhere from 2 to 15 slices. If my baker cuts a slice at 25739 degrees, I want a refund! (I'll keep the pie, because the pie is obviously useless.) (720720 might be OK too so we can cut 16 pieces, but honestly, if you're cutting 16 pieces, you're not going to measure. You're just going to divide pieces in half until you have 16. 360360 is the future.)
- DrewADesign 11mo ago
  Indeed, gradiens are a scale where a circle is divided into 400 equal parts. Really fucked me up a few times when I got a new calculator and wasn’t paying attention to what the little “grad” meant.
potato3732842 11mo ago
Whenever I'm late to a meeting I blame it on the french revolutionary calendar.
- ProjectArcturis 11mo ago
  Lousy Smarch weather
lexszero_ 11mo ago
Some pocket calculators from not too long ago supported this unit for some reason, along with radians and degrees. That's the third option on "DRG" button.

by ekelsen 11mo ago

rurp 11mo ago

The Indiana pi bill mandated certain mathematical values be changed to the wrong value. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_pi_bill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_pi_bill

JumpCrisscross 11mo ago
“The bill, written by a physician and an amateur mathematician, never became law.”

onraglanroad 11mo ago

There's no reason you can't have 400 degrees in a circle and therefore 100 for a right angle. It's a degree scale: you can choose any number you want.

ekelsen 11mo ago
Of course that's true, that doesn't mean you should.
taftster 11mo ago
But I can't subdivide 400 in to as many ways as 360. Think about the pie industry. They could be put out of business!!
- hathawsh 11mo ago
  I usually want to cut pies into 14 pieces. Some might want 11 or 13. (17 is just too many.) I demand that we implement a system where a circle is 2 * 3 * 4 * 5 * 7 * 3 * 11 * 13 = 360360 degrees, so that we can cut pies evenly at anywhere from 2 to 15 slices. If my baker cuts a slice at 25739 degrees, I want a refund! (I'll keep the pie, because the pie is obviously useless.) (720720 might be OK too so we can cut 16 pieces, but honestly, if you're cutting 16 pieces, you're not going to measure. You're just going to divide pieces in half until you have 16. 360360 is the future.)
DrewADesign 11mo ago
Indeed, gradiens are a scale where a circle is divided into 400 equal parts. Really fucked me up a few times when I got a new calculator and wasn’t paying attention to what the little “grad” meant.

potato3732842 11mo ago

Whenever I'm late to a meeting I blame it on the french revolutionary calendar.

ProjectArcturis 11mo ago
Lousy Smarch weather

lexszero_ 11mo ago

Some pocket calculators from not too long ago supported this unit for some reason, along with radians and degrees. That's the third option on "DRG" button.