I know what Radians and Degrees are, but what are Grads?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gon

Gon and Grad is the same thing.

When are they used? Why were they developed? Why not just stick with Radians or degrees?

I believed they're used a lot in Engineering. They were developed by the French during their attempts to make everything metric (right angle = 100 rads)

it sounds easier, but don't radians work better with math?

Radians do work better when you're trying to do something that involves differentiation or integration or something else like that, because you have to bring a factor to the outside of the cos, sin, tan...etc

So, to restate my question, what the bloody hell are they used for? I have never heard of them until I saw the mode on my old scientific calculator.

Its just another system of measurement. Some people (The French) like it because it simplifies things

I think this system has been abandoned a long time ago. Like degrees, they are not used in scientific circles.

 

Mandrake

For some reason I seem to remember reading that the military (UK) used grads for artillery finding 400 more practical for people to work with in their heads: 100 per quadrant, 50 for, erm, octant???

Possible. I have never once seen anybody use this system.

 

Mandrake

I think this system has been abandoned a long time ago. Like degrees, they are not used in scientific circles.

 

Mandrake

Degrees aren't used in scientific circles? Radians are useful for theory, but degrees are far more practical. Astronomers, for instance, use arcseconds and arcminutes for their measurements, and those are based on degrees. Technically they can be converted to radians, but if you're an astronomer, what's more convenient: knowing an arcminute is 1/60th of a degree, or knowing that it is pi/10800 radians?

Ok you got me there. I was talking of mathematical scientific circles. Though i dont see why knowing an arcminute is Pi/108000 radians would pose a problem ?

It stays the same object right ?

 

Mandrake

i think radians are easier than degrees. pi=180 degrees, so any fraction of 1(ignoring the pi) is in the first two quadrants.2pi=360 so, anything above 1 and below 2(ignoring the pi) is in the last two quadrants.

There's no doubt about it, radians are a much more 'natural' way of measuring angles.