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Schnutzel t1_j6mb0ha wrote

Historically it's because months were based on the lunar cycle (even the word "month" comes from "moon"). In lunar calendars each month is one lunar cycle, which is 29.5 days long. This results in 12 months a year + approximately 10 days (so in lunisolar calendars, sometimes a 13th month is added).

Anyway, now we use 12 months because it's convenient. 12 easily divide by 2, 3, 4 and 6, unlike 13 which is prime.

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Ok_Construction_1638 t1_j6mdbqn wrote

Is it not because the Romans had 10 months and then Julius Caesar and Augustus each decided to add an additional month?

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Schnutzel t1_j6mez8s wrote

The Romans had a 10 month calendar centuries before Ceaser. Then January and February were added. July and August weren't added to the calendar, they were renamed from Quintilis and Sextilis.

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[deleted] t1_j6mdcf5 wrote

[removed]

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Schnutzel t1_j6mf516 wrote

The Mayan people lived in America. The Europeans who created the Julian calendar had no idea the Mayan people existed.

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Giggingurl t1_j6mfdql wrote

Then explain to me the big scare of the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012?

The Mayans lived in South America.

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Schnutzel t1_j6mft64 wrote

The Mayan calendar consists of various cycles (kinda like we have "cycles" - years, decades, centuries, millenia). One such cycle (bak'tun) ended in 2012. That's it. There was no big scare outside of some idiots and a few Hollywood movies.

And the Mayans lived in Central America, not South America.

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Giggingurl t1_j6mfwj1 wrote

No need to be sarcastic. I asked a legitimate question.

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BulletRisen t1_j6nuy3e wrote

I’m curious, where did you perceive sarcasm in his comment ?

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phiwong t1_j6ma58z wrote

Not really 13*28 = 364. We'd be 1 short of a year plus an additional day every 4 years.

13 is also prime - so things like half year, quarter year etc falls in the middle of months. If we agreed, it would just take a bit of getting used to.

There isn't going to be a very nice division - no matter how.

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brybob19 OP t1_j6nb1rj wrote

most things ive seen explaining the 13 month calendar include a 14th “month” but its only a single day usually called “year day” hence why in my post i said 14 months if you wanted to get technical

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QuentinUK t1_j6mgpr0 wrote

Dozens were the popular way of counting ,1 dozen = 12.

Because there are 60 seconds in a minute, and 60 minutes an hour (5*12 = 60). And 24 hours a day (2*12), and turn 360 degrees in a circle (30*12 = 360), Fahrenheit scale was defined by two fixed points with a 180 °F separation (15*12 = 180): water freezes and the boiling point of water. 12 pennies to a shilling and 240 pennies to a pound (20*12 = 240). The Romans had 12 denarii to a solidus and 72 solidi to a pound 6*12 = 72). 12 inches to a foot. 5280 feet to a mile (440*12 = 5280).

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Flair_Helper t1_j6n96bw wrote

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DoctorOtter t1_j6md24x wrote

This is what I want:

12 months in a year

3 weeks in a month

10 days in a week

10 hours in a day

100 minutes in a hour

100 seconds in a minute

These new seconds are not the same length as regular seconds. I haven't done the math but it is possible to just make a second faster or slower.

Every year ends with a leap week of 4 or 5 days to adjust the calendar.

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pselie4 t1_j6mkz86 wrote

>These new seconds are not the same length as regular seconds. I haven't done the math but it is possible to just make a second faster or slower.

You just gave every scientist and engineer a new nightmare. And I'm sure every programmer who ever had to code time and date functions has put you on their hit list.

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DoctorOtter t1_j6mm28p wrote

Ok. We don't necessarily need to go all the way down to new seconds. We can keep the hours in a day as is but have new months and weeks.

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jran1984 t1_j6myp3p wrote

There is already a thing called decimal time, with hours minutes and seconds depicted this way. The reason it isn't widely used it adopted is because the current system is so engrained that we can't dislodge it. We can't even get the US to switch to the metric system.

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