Why not 100?

Hello everyone! Nicky here to tell you about a special little number. This number is 360. You might recognize it as the number of degrees in a circle. But I bet you've always wondered: Why 360 and not something easy, like 100? Well, the answer lies within the story of the Babylonians...

You see, the Sumerians (and later the Babylonians) used a Sexagesimal system when it came to numbers... No this isn't some sort of foul language, it just means their number system was based on the number 60. Now, 60 goes into 360 right? But that still doesn't answer why the 60. However, the following will. If you take a look at our calendar (of 365 days) you'll see that it's really close to 360, now isn't it? That's how the Babylonians told time. They noticed that the Sun moved about 1 degree everyday, and around 360 every year. They also realized that every year the sun goes around a complete circle. So, when the made circles, they made them with 360 degrees.

So, what are the mathematical "pluses" of 360? Well, 360 has 24 factors whereas 100 only has 9. This makes for a good number. So, there you go. Now you know why there's 360 degrees in a circle. The simple answer being that the Babylonians said so... The true answer being that it just works.