Minute: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 09:14, 12 September 2019

The minute is a unit of time usually equal to 1⁄60 (the first sexagesimal fraction^[1]) of an hour, or 60 seconds. In the UTC time standard, a minute on rare occasions has 61 seconds, a consequence of leap seconds (there is a provision to insert a negative leap second, which would result in a 59-second minute, but this has never happened in more than 40 years under this system). Although not an SI unit, the minute is accepted for use with SI units.^[2] The SI symbol for minute or minutes is min. The prime symbol is also sometimes used informally to denote minutes of time.

History

One of the earliest known uses of the minute (and the second) is found in John of Sacrobosco's Computus (ca. 1235), where he used them when discussing the length of the tropical year.^[3] No earlier records for the origin of the minute as 1⁄60 of the hour and the second 1⁄60 of the minute have ever been found. Another motivation that has been suggested for the emergence of these fine divisions of time was the construction of "precision" timepieces (mechanical and water clocks).

Historically, the word "minute" comes from the Latin pars minuta prima, meaning "first small part". This division of the hour can be further refined with a "second small part" (Latin: pars minuta secunda), and this is where the word "second" comes from. For even further refinement, the term "third" (1⁄60 of a second) remains in some languages, for example Polish (tercja) and Turkish (salise), although most modern usage subdivides seconds by using decimals. The symbol notation of the prime for minutes and double prime for seconds can be seen as indicating the first and second cut of the hour (similar to how the foot is the first cut of the yard or perhaps chain, with inches as the second cut). In 1267, the medieval scientist Roger Bacon, writing in Latin, defined the division of time between full moons as a number of hours, minutes, seconds, thirds, and fourths (horae, minuta, secunda, tertia, and quarta) after noon on specified calendar dates.^[4]

Notes and references

^ "What is the origin of hours, minutes and seconds?". Wisteme. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 2011-05-25. What we now call a minute derives from the first fractional sexagesimal place.
^ "Non-SI units accepted for use with the SI, and units based on fundamental constants". Bureau International de Poids et Mesures. Retrieved 2011-05-25.
^ Nothaft, C. Philipp E. (2018), Scandalous Error: Calendar Reform and Calendrical Astronomy in Medieval Europe, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 126, ISBN 9780198799559, Sacrobosco switched to sexagesimal fractions, but rendered them more congenial to computistical use by applying them not to the day but to the hour, thereby inaugurating the use of hours, minutes, and seconds that still prevails in the twenty-first century.
^ R Bacon (2000) [1928]. The Opus Majus of Roger Bacon. BR Belle. University of Pennsylvania Press. table facing page 231. ISBN 978-1-85506-856-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |nopp= ignored (|no-pp= suggested) (help)

Bibliography

Henry Campbell Black, Black's Law Dictionary, 6th Edition, entry on Minute. West Publishing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1991.
Eric W. Weisstein. "Arc Minute." From MathWorld—A Wolfram

This history article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] "What is the origin of hours, minutes and seconds?". Wisteme. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 2011-05-25. What we now call a minute derives from the first fractional sexagesimal place.

[2] "Non-SI units accepted for use with the SI, and units based on fundamental constants". Bureau International de Poids et Mesures. Retrieved 2011-05-25.

[3] Nothaft, C. Philipp E. (2018), Scandalous Error: Calendar Reform and Calendrical Astronomy in Medieval Europe, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 126, ISBN 9780198799559, Sacrobosco switched to sexagesimal fractions, but rendered them more congenial to computistical use by applying them not to the day but to the hour, thereby inaugurating the use of hours, minutes, and seconds that still prevails in the twenty-first century.

[4] R Bacon (2000) [1928]. The Opus Majus of Roger Bacon. BR Belle. University of Pennsylvania Press. table facing page 231. ISBN 978-1-85506-856-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |nopp= ignored (|no-pp= suggested) (help)

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{About|the unit of time|angle and right ascension|Minute and second of arc|the written record of a meeting|Minutes|other uses of the word|Minute (disambiguation)}}
-The '''minute''' is a [[unit of measurement|unit]] of [[time]] or [[angle]]. As a unit of time, the minute is most of times equal to {{frac|1|60}} (the first [[sexagesimal]] fraction<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wisteme.com/question.view?targetAction=viewQuestionTab&id=1768
+The '''minute''' is a [[unit of measurement|unit]] of [[time]] usually equal to {{frac|1|60}} (the first [[sexagesimal]] fraction<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wisteme.com/question.view?targetAction=viewQuestionTab&id=1768
 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324134833/http://www.wisteme.com/question.view?targetAction=viewQuestionTab&id=1768|archivedate=24 March 2012|title=What is the origin of hours, minutes and seconds?|work=Wisteme |quote=What we now call a minute derives from the first fractional sexagesimal place
-|accessdate=2011-05-25}}.</ref>) of an [[hour]], or 60 [[second]]s. In the [[Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]] [[time standard]], a minute on rare occasions has 61 seconds, a consequence of [[leap second]]s (there is a provision to insert a negative leap second, which would result in a 59-second minute, but this has never happened in more than 40 years under this system). As a unit of angle, the [[minute of arc]] is equal to {{frac|1|60}} of a [[Degree (angle)|degree]], or 60 [[second of arc|seconds (of arc)]]. Although not an [[SI]] unit for either time or angle, the minute is accepted for use with SI units for both.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bipm.org/en/publications/si-brochure/table6.html|work=Bureau International de Poids et Mesures|title=Non-SI units accepted for use with the SI, and units based on fundamental constants|accessdate=2011-05-25}}</ref> The SI symbols for ''minute'' or ''minutes'' are '''min''' for time measurement, and the [[prime symbol]] after a number, e.g. 5&prime;, for angle measurement. The prime is also sometimes used informally to denote minutes of time.
+|accessdate=2011-05-25}}.</ref>) of an [[hour]], or 60 [[second]]s. In the [[Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]] [[time standard]], a minute on rare occasions has 61 seconds, a consequence of [[leap second]]s (there is a provision to insert a negative leap second, which would result in a 59-second minute, but this has never happened in more than 40 years under this system). Although not an [[SI]] unit, the minute is accepted for use with SI units.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bipm.org/en/publications/si-brochure/table6.html|work=Bureau International de Poids et Mesures|title=Non-SI units accepted for use with the SI, and units based on fundamental constants|accessdate=2011-05-25}}</ref> The SI symbol for ''minute'' or ''minutes'' is '''min'''. The [[prime symbol]] is also sometimes used informally to denote minutes of time.
 ==History==

v t e Time measurement and standards
Chronometry Orders of magnitude Metrology
International standards	Coordinated Universal Time offset UT ΔT DUT1 International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service ISO 31-1 ISO 8601 International Atomic Time 12-hour clock 24-hour clock Barycentric Coordinate Time Barycentric Dynamical Time Civil time Daylight saving time Geocentric Coordinate Time International Date Line IERS Reference Meridian Leap second Solar time Terrestrial Time Time zone 180th meridian
Obsolete standards	Ephemeris time Greenwich Mean Time Prime meridian
Time in physics	Absolute space and time Spacetime Chronon Continuous signal Coordinate time Cosmological decade Discrete time and continuous time Proper time Theory of relativity Time dilation Gravitational time dilation Time domain Time-translation symmetry T-symmetry
Horology	Clock Astrarium Atomic clock Complication History of timekeeping devices Hourglass Marine chronometer Marine sandglass Radio clock Watch stopwatch Water clock Sundial Dialing scales Equation of time History of sundials Sundial markup schema
Calendar	Gregorian Hebrew Hindu Holocene Islamic (lunar Hijri) Julian Solar Hijri Astronomical Dominical letter Epact Equinox Intercalation Julian day Leap year Lunar Lunisolar Solar Solstice Tropical year Weekday determination Weekday names
Archaeology and geology	Chronological dating Geologic time scale International Commission on Stratigraphy
Astronomical chronology	Galactic year Nuclear timescale Precession Sidereal time
Other units of time	Instant Flick Shake Jiffy Second Minute Moment Hour Day Week Fortnight Month Year Olympiad Lustrum Decade Century Saeculum Millennium
Related topics	Chronology Duration music Mental chronometry Decimal time Metric time System time Time metrology Time value of money Timekeeper

v t e SI units
Base units	ampere candela kelvin kilogram metre mole second
Derived units with special names	becquerel coulomb degree Celsius farad gray henry hertz joule katal lumen lux newton ohm pascal radian siemens sievert steradian tesla volt watt weber
Other accepted units	astronomical unit dalton day decibel degree of arc electronvolt hectare hour litre minute minute and second of arc neper tonne
See also	Conversion of units Metric prefixes Historical definitions of the SI base units 2019 revision of the SI System of units of measurement
Category

Revision as of 09:14, 12 September 2019

History

See also

Notes and references

Bibliography