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Just as degrees are used to measure parts of a circle, square degrees are used to measure parts of a sphere. Analogous to one degree being equal to π / 180 radians, a square degree is equal to ( π / 180 ) 2 steradians (sr), or about 1 / 3283 sr or about 3.046 × 10 −4 sr.
Smith described the radian in everything but name – "Now this number is equal to 180 degrees as the radius of a circle to the semicircumference, this is as 1 to 3.141592653589" –, and recognized its naturalness as a unit of angular measure. [33] [34] In 1765, Leonhard Euler implicitly adopted the radian as a unit of angle. [31]
These considerations outweigh the convenient divisibility of the number 360. One complete turn (360°) is equal to 2 π radians, so 180° is equal to π radians, or equivalently, the degree is a mathematical constant: 1° = π ⁄ 180. One turn (corresponding to a cycle or revolution) is equal to 360°.
The values of sine and cosine of 30 and 60 degrees are derived by analysis of the equilateral triangle. In an equilateral triangle, the 3 angles are equal and sum to 180°, therefore each corner angle is 60°. Bisecting one corner, the special right triangle with angles 30-60-90 is obtained.
provided the angle is measured in radians. Angles measured in degrees must first be converted to radians by multiplying them by / . These approximations have a wide range of uses in branches of physics and engineering, including mechanics, electromagnetism, optics, cartography, astronomy, and computer science.
Solid angles can also be measured in square degrees (1 sr = (180/ π) 2 square degrees), in square arc-minutes and square arc-seconds, or in fractions of the sphere (1 sr = 1 / 4 π fractional area), also known as spat (1 sp = 4 π sr). In spherical coordinates there is a formula for the differential,
The trigonometric functions rely on angles, and mathematicians generally use radians as units of measurement. π plays an important role in angles measured in radians, which are defined so that a complete circle spans an angle of 2 π radians. The angle measure of 180° is equal to π radians, and 1° = π /180 radians. [160]
The length of a degree of longitude (east–west distance) depends only on the radius of a circle of latitude. For a sphere of radius a that radius at latitude φ is a cos φ, and the length of a one-degree (or π / 180 radian) arc along a circle of latitude is