Measurement of sizes in degrees, minutes and seconds is most often used for designation of geographical or astronomical coordinates. As well as at measurement of time, each angular minute contains 60 seconds, and the degree holds 60 minutes. This six-denary system of calculation remains since ancient Babylon. But in the modern systems of standardization, including SI used in Russia, decimal calculation therefore rather often it is required to transfer minutes and seconds to decimal shares of degree is applied.
Instruction
1. You divide number known to you for about 3600 seconds to transfer them to degrees. As one angular minute contains sixty angular seconds, and in one degree - sixty angular minutes, seconds in degree there have to be 60*60=3600.
2. Use the calculator for practical calculations as for calculation to within thousand shares very seldom found mathematical abilities are necessary. For example, it can be the Windows OS standard calculator. For its start it is necessary to click the Start-up button (or to press the WIN key), to pass into the menu in the section "Programs", then in its subsection "Standard" and to select the Calculator item. It is possible to make it and in a different way - to press a combination of the keys WIN + R, to make the calc team and to press the Enter key.
3. Enter the known number of seconds, clicking the button in the interface of the calculator on the screen or using the keyboard. Then click a key with a virgule ("slash") and enter number 3600. Then press an equal-sign, and the calculator will count and will show you the size in degrees corresponding to the set number of seconds.
4. Use online calculators if for some reason or other near at hand there are no others. For example, you can enter inquiry with the necessary mathematical operation into the Google search engine, and it will show you result, having calculated it on the own calculator. Let's tell if it is necessary to find out the size of 17 seconds in degrees, then enter such inquiry into Google: "17 / 3600". It is not obligatory to press the search button at the same time.
5. Usually together with seconds it is required to count also minutes as geographical coordinates are designated in the "degrees of minute of second" format (° '""). For example, coordinates of the most visited place in the city of Krasnodar - 45 ° 01' 31"" northern latitude and 38 ° 59' 58"" east longitude. To transfer the longitude of this place to decimal shares of degree, it is necessary to add to 38 whole degrees the minutes expressed in degrees (59/60 = 0.983) and the seconds expressed in degrees (58/3600 = 0.016). If to count on the same algorithm and width, coordinates in degrees will look so: 45.025 ° northern latitude and 38.999 ° east longitude.