Eli5: Why are circles specifically 360 degrees and not 100?
In: Mathematics
Because we made it up. Back when they were figuring out geometry, they divided circles into 360 because it can be broken down evenly into a lot of different numbers.
360 is a multiple of, and can evenly be divided into: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 24, 30, 36, 40, 45, 60, 72, 90, 120, 180, and 360 pieces.
100 only has 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, and 100.
Being able to break it down in more ways without dealing with fractions or decimals turned out to be useful.
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