Andrea Martinez Assignment # 27 12-07-05 History of Measurement One simple way to tell time was to divide the daylight time and the nighttime into segments. Many cultures did this, using different numbers of segments. For example, the Chinese divided one sun-cycle into 12 sections and the Hindus into 60. Very early on, the Egyptians divided the period between sunrise and sunset into 10 sections, an d then added two more sections for the periods of twilight at dawn and nightfall--making 12 sections of daylight time. They then divided the night into 12 sections also. This made a division of the sun-cycle into 24 sections, very much like the 24 hours that we divide the sun circle into. The Babylonians used a similar system, and this is in fact where our modern 24-hour day has its origin. People marked their days by the rising and setting of the sun phases of the moon and cycles of hunger and sleep. Civilization in early times was concentrated around the Mediterranean, where there was lots of sunshine and water. Time was judge from the position and the length of the shadow. It was the Greeks who developed the “foot” as their fundamental length. People measured a yard of clothes between the outstretch arm and their chin; it was evident that everyone’s body was different sizes. This caused confusion in measurement. The French now as a result of difficultness created a standard unit of measurement called the metric system, which was created in the 1790’s. Back in the days no standards were even recorded each person had his own methods of measuring for his own needs each person worked alone when measurement were involved. The apparent motion of the sun across the sky had long been used as a basis for measuring time.