Degrees, minutes, and seconds, explained

A location can be written as one decimal number, like 40.6892°, or split into degrees, minutes, and seconds, like 40°41'21.12". Both describe the exact same point — it’s the same relationship as writing “3.25 hours” versus “3 hours and 15 minutes.”

Where the base-60 split comes from

Minutes and seconds split each degree into 60 parts, then split each of those into 60 more — the same base-60 system the Babylonians used for tracking time, which is why an angle and a clock share the same units. Sixty was a practical choice: it divides evenly by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 30, which made hand calculations far easier than a base-10 split would have.

Converting between the two

Take 40.6892°:

Degrees:  whole number part        → 40
Minutes:  0.6892 × 60 = 41.352     → 41
Seconds:  0.352 × 60  = 21.12      → 21.12

So 40.6892° is the same point as 40°41’21.12” — coincidentally, close to where the Statue of Liberty actually sits.

Why it’s still used

Decimal degrees are easier to do math with, so most software works in decimal internally. DMS notation survives in navigation, surveying, and aviation, where it’s the long-standing convention and where reading coordinates aloud in degrees-minutes-seconds is less error-prone over radio than reading out long decimals.

Try the conversion yourself in the DMS converter.