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However, when it is inconvenient to use base-60 for minutes and seconds, positions are frequently expressed as decimal fractional degrees to an equal amount of precision. Degrees given to three decimal places ( 1 / 1000 of a degree) have about 1 / 4 the precision of degrees-minutes-seconds ( 1 / 3600 of a degree) and ...
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 ]
It is denoted by a double prime ( ″ ). For example, 3° 7′ 30″ is equal to 3 + 7 / 60 + 30 / 3600 degrees, or 3.125 degrees. The arcsecond is the angle used to measure a parsec: grad: 400: 0°54′ The grad, also called grade, gradian, or gon. It is a decimal subunit of the quadrant. A right angle is 100 grads.
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.
Solid angles can also be measured in square degrees (1 sr = (180/ π) 2 square degrees), in square arc-minutes and square arc-seconds, or in fractions of the sphere (1 sr = 1 / 4 π fractional area), also known as spat (1 sp = 4 π sr). In spherical coordinates there is a formula for the differential,
[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 ]
Its SI unit is the reciprocal seconds (s −1); other common units of measurement include the hertz (Hz), cycles per second (cps), and revolutions per minute (rpm). [ 1 ] [ a ] [ b ] Rotational frequency can be obtained dividing angular frequency , ω, by a full turn (2 π radians ): ν =ω/(2π rad).
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″.