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degrees and decimal minutes: 40° 26.767′ N 79° 58.933′ W; decimal degrees: +40.446 -79.982; There are 60 minutes in a degree and 60 seconds in a minute. Therefore, to convert from a degrees minutes seconds format to a decimal degrees format, one may use the formula
The angle is typically measured in degrees from the mark of number 12 clockwise. The time is usually based on a 12-hour clock. A method to solve such problems is to consider the rate of change of the angle in degrees per minute. The hour hand of a normal 12-hour analogue clock turns 360° in 12 hours (720 minutes) or 0.5° per minute.
[18] [19] Today, the degree, 1 / 360 of a turn, or the mathematically more convenient radian, 1 / 2 π of a turn (used in the SI system of units) is generally used instead. In the 1970s – 1990s, most scientific calculators offered the gon (gradian), as well as radians and degrees, for their trigonometric functions. [23]
However, in mathematical literature the angle is often denoted by θ instead. Angles in polar notation are generally expressed in either degrees or radians (2 π rad being equal to 360°). Degrees are traditionally used in navigation, surveying, and many applied disciplines, while radians are more common in mathematics and mathematical physics. [9]
The concepts of degrees, minutes, and seconds—as they relate to the measure of both angles and time—derive from Babylonian astronomy and time-keeping. Influenced by the Sumerians , the ancient Babylonians divided the Sun's perceived motion across the sky over the course of one full day into 360 degrees.
A degree (in full, a degree of arc, arc degree, or arcdegree), usually denoted by ° (the degree symbol), is a measurement of a plane angle in which one full rotation is 360 degrees. [4] It is not an SI unit—the SI unit of angular measure is the radian—but it is mentioned in the SI brochure as an accepted unit. [5]
Decimal degrees (DD) is a notation for expressing latitude and longitude geographic coordinates as decimal fractions of a degree. DD are used in many geographic information systems (GIS), web mapping applications such as OpenStreetMap , and GPS devices.
In the case of degrees of angular arc, the degree symbol follows the number without any intervening space, e.g. 30°.The addition of minute and second of arc follows the degree units, with intervening spaces (optionally, non-breaking space) between the sexagesimal degree subdivisions but no spaces between the numbers and units, for example 30° 12 ′ 5″.