Baron Carter wrote in USMA 13586
>All we have to do is get rid of degrees minutes and seconds for Lat and Long
>and then we can get rid of the nautical mile.
The circle of 360� is likely to survive in mechnical engineering because
angles of 30� and 60� are common, and can only be expressed in grads (or
gons, or whatever) by repeating decimal fractions. The same argumment does
not apply to surveying, and theodolites graduated in gons are available in
Europe.
There is no logical argument in favor of minutes and seconds of angle, so
ISO recommends the use of degrees and decimal fractions of the degree.
However, they may survive because thousands of years of astronomical
observations are recorded in degrees, minutes and seconds.
The radian is involved in the definition of several SI derived units, but
it has no practical use in the measurement of angles alone.
Joseph B. Reid
17 Glebe Road West
Toronto M5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071
