Thursday, September 29, 2011

Time. The Most Important Measurement Since the Beginning of...Itself

Time is referred to so many times in a day.  Think about how many moments you take to look at a clock, a watch, or your cellphone.  We use time to judge where we are in our daily routine, or to coordinate a certain event.  But, we also use time as a measurement.  We think about how much time has lapsed from one event, to the next.

When looking at time as a comparing measurement between two events, rather than a reference to where we are in our daily routine, it is easy to look at sports as an example.  In most sports, there is an element of time.  You can have a set amount of time that you have to perform the best you can, such as the 4 quarters of a basketball game.  There can also be a measurement of time as a comparison of the sport.  In track, the competitor with the quickest time to run a set distance is the winner.

Because time is so important with our lives, it is important to be able to measure time and understand the math of time to accurately compare.  Luckily, time is not measured differently in Metric, or U.S. Standard measurements.

Over the centuries, our time units have been derived from how the Earth rotates and revolves around the sun.  This results in our seasons, years and days.  From there we break down our measurements further to hours, minutes, and seconds.

Sometimes it can get confusing if you are looking at other planets and how they are arranged around the Sun.  Because a year is how long it takes the Earth to revolve around the Sun, it does not work the same for other planets.  It takes much longer for some planets to make a full revolution around the sun, therefore one year for that planet would be multiple Earth years.  The same can be said for days.  One Earth day is how long it takes the Earth to turn one full rotation.  On other planets it may take longer to make a full rotation.  That planet's day, would be multiple Earth days.

Enough with some of the basics of time.  I could spend a lot of time discussing this.  It is important to know how to convert from years, to days, hours, minutes, and seconds.  For more on time and how to convert between these units, try using this online calculator:

Time Conversion Calculator

To see how time can be used in conjunction with other mathematical concepts like speed, flow rate, and navigation, browse through some of these other online calculators:  (But only if you have enough time)

Online Calculator Categories

CalcuNATION is a website featuring online calculators and educational resources for mathematics.  Other Mathematical Blogs ( CalcuNATION on EduBlogs and CalcuNATION on Blogger)

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