pl. (Arch.) A system of numbers, whose denominations rise in a scale of twelves, as of feet and inches. The system is used chiefly by artificers in computing the superficial and solid contents of their work.
adjective
Duodecimal adj. Proceeding in computation by twelves; expressed in the scale of twelves.
... was the base of the whole system.[97] We shall not here attempt to explain how the other measures—itinerary, agrarian, of capacity, of weight—were derived from the cubit; to call attention to the traces left in our nomenclature by the duodecimal or sexagesimal system of the Babylonians, even after the complete triumph of the decimal system, is sufficient for our purposes. It is used for instance in the division of the circle into degrees, minutes, and seconds, in the division ... — A History of Art in Chaldaea & Assyria, v. 1 • Georges Perrot
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