Jump to content

Why radians?


Gareth56

Recommended Posts

Not just physics. Any math or science that employs more than very basic geometry. The reason is pretty straightforward: it makes most equations and formulae simpler. This is to be expected, as it is a naturally derived measure, as opposed to an arbitrary subdivision like 360 degrees, which has nothing to do with pi.

 

On the other hand, 360 is still user friendly for a lot of basic applications, mostly because it's evenly divisible by many whole numbers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its the more "natural" unit. For example, angular momentum can be simply expressed as L= Iw, where 'w' is the angular velocity measured in radians/sec. If you were to use degrees/sec, you would have to add a factor of pi/180 to get the right answer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.