Why radians?

[Gareth56]

Why is the radian used as the measurement of angular quantity in physics rather than the [more common] degree?

 

Thanks

[Sisyphus]

Not just physics. Any math or science that employs more than very basic geometry. The reason is pretty straightforward: it makes most equations and formulae simpler. This is to be expected, as it is a naturally derived measure, as opposed to an arbitrary subdivision like 360 degrees, which has nothing to do with pi.

 

On the other hand, 360 is still user friendly for a lot of basic applications, mostly because it's evenly divisible by many whole numbers.

[Janus]

Its the more "natural" unit. For example, angular momentum can be simply expressed as L= Iw, where 'w' is the angular velocity measured in radians/sec. If you were to use degrees/sec, you would have to add a factor of pi/180 to get the right answer.

[Mr Skeptic]

And don't get me started on the ugliness you get if you measure finer: degrees, arcminutes, and arcseconds. Finer still, you put a decimal point on the arcseconds.

[Externet]

Not using base 10 for measuring angles, time, coordinates = majestic goof we carry trough centuries...

[swaha]

to get some easier formulas.