Why Twenty-four hours in a day

Most people today count to ten, because they have ten fingers. Lots of our modern world is divided into tens, but not the day. To find out why you must look back in history to ancient Egypt. A thing from a past so long ago that it’s origins are obscured by the passage of centuries of humanity dominates todays life. Have the definitions of time been in use so long because they are somewhat complicated to understand, but so convenient to use.

The ancients used the joints in the fingers of one hand to count to twelve. They used their thumbs use to count to twenty - four, on one hand. To the ancients twenty - four of some thing was a lot. It was a lot of goats to a lot of loaves of bread. Rarely did they need more than two dozen to worry about the number of anything.

First, the Egyptian Tee sundial was divided into twelve parts. The common man then naturally understood twelve. Twelve for the joints in the fingers of one hand. They therefor preferred twelve not ten.

Are we making a mistake by not teaching the natural counting the twelve joints of the fingers in one hand. Twelve and twenty-four always seemed so odd to my mind. I had to just accpect them and move on to the next subject hurled at me in school. I really feel to understand time you must be shown to count the joints in your fingers.

Moreover, twenty - four stars in the night sky were used throughout the year to document the night. The motion of twelve of these stars marked the passage of a night.

Your day has twelve hours and your night has twelve hours because the ancients counted not ten fingers, but twelve joints in the fingers of one hand. On one hand they used the thumb to count to twenty - four. If you use your ten fingers and ten toes you cannot count that high.