From Latin of gradus it is translated as "step" and used for designation of units of measure in various areas of human activity. Units with such name are used for the indication of temperature, solid angles, alcohol content in liquids, their viscosity and density. Even degrees of a posvyashchennost of members of Masonic lodge are expressed by degrees.
Scales of degrees at measurement of temperature in different countries and today have different divisions and a zero point, and in former times at all there were more than ten options of determination of degree. Today two main units of measure of temperature are degrees on scales of Celsius and Fahrenheit. The first of them enters the international SI system, and the second is used generally in the USA. In Celsius scale the temperature range from a point of thawing of ice to a boiling point of water is broken into hundred divisions, each of which also corresponds to one degree - 1 °C. The ice melting point is taken for a zero mark here. By the Fahrenheit scale of 100 °F the body temperature of the person is compared therefore ice thaws at a temperature of +32 °F here.
In geometry degree call the one 360th share of a whole revolution. It means that the turn in the opposite direction corresponds 180 °, and the right angle is equal 90 °. Unlike temperature for more exact measurements here degrees are divided not into the tenth shares, and into the sixtieth.-Degree measurement of corners is borrowed from ancient Babylonians who used a six-denary system therefore the one sixtieth share in geometry and cartography is called angular minute which sixtieth share, in turn, is one angular second.
-Degree determination of content of alcohol in alcoholic beverages is used in our country only thanks to tradition - officially this unit of measure is cancelled for a long time. In this scope one degree coincides with one percent and determines alcohol volume in the container with alcoholic drink. For example, the fortress of kefir is equal 0.2 ° that means existence in each liter of 2 cm³ of alcohol. In freemasonry the extent of spiritual development of the member of a box, level of his knowledge and posvyashchennost in affairs is defined by degree. In classical option of such steps three - to the first degree there corresponds the pupil's rank, to the second - journeymen, to the third - masters. There are also-degree units of measure of viscosity (Engler's degree) and density (Baume's degree) of liquids, but they are applied seldom and are stand-alone units.