A Matter of Degrees

[Bob Norton]

I have read, from more than one source, that the Chinese used a 360 degree circle prior to about 1500 BC. The degree is probably of Babylonian origin, passing from them to the Egyptians and thence to the Hyksos, who likely were the ancestors of the Arabs. BICBW.

>(Query, for one who left his _Historia Mathematica_ in his other suit:
>Who first determined that the standard subdivision of a circle should be
>360 degrees? Pythagoras? Some Arab algebra-walloper or another,
>perhaps?)
>