22-04-2026, 06:43 PM
(This post was last modified: 22-04-2026, 06:44 PM by rikforto.
Edit Reason: Fixed tag
)
I would like to deal with this before anything else:
If you divide a circle into 24 arcs, you will have 24 parts. As there are only 24 solar terms, they could only divide the ecliptic into 24 such arcs. This fact does not depend on the unit system one denominates it in and so does not so much as implicitly suggest 360 degrees. For that matter, it does not suggest the Chinese degree.
This is not pedantry. My reason for bringing up the construction of these ideas was to establish how it is not trivial to assume solar terms imply 15-degree arcs, as well as some logical consequences of that. If the degrees already exist, my argument is much weaker.
Since you say that the solar terms make 360 equal divisions, I would ask: How would you recover the degree from solar terms themselves? I understand how to construct solar terms given the 360-degree division of the circle. Likewise, I understand the mathematical possibility of dividing an arc that is 1/24th of a circle into 15 equal arcs provided that is a well-motivated construction to undertake. I am not asking for either of these things. I am asking how, given 24 solar terms, the year or ecliptic is already divided into 360 parts.
(22-04-2026, 03:37 PM)Jorge_Stolfi wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Even if that is correct for Chinese astronomy in general (and one must be wary of possible of undue generalizations by scholars), the "solar terms" were definitely a division of the Ecliptic (or of the year) into 360 parts...
If you divide a circle into 24 arcs, you will have 24 parts. As there are only 24 solar terms, they could only divide the ecliptic into 24 such arcs. This fact does not depend on the unit system one denominates it in and so does not so much as implicitly suggest 360 degrees. For that matter, it does not suggest the Chinese degree.
This is not pedantry. My reason for bringing up the construction of these ideas was to establish how it is not trivial to assume solar terms imply 15-degree arcs, as well as some logical consequences of that. If the degrees already exist, my argument is much weaker.
Since you say that the solar terms make 360 equal divisions, I would ask: How would you recover the degree from solar terms themselves? I understand how to construct solar terms given the 360-degree division of the circle. Likewise, I understand the mathematical possibility of dividing an arc that is 1/24th of a circle into 15 equal arcs provided that is a well-motivated construction to undertake. I am not asking for either of these things. I am asking how, given 24 solar terms, the year or ecliptic is already divided into 360 parts.