Patrick Cain, age 8, of Fort Nelson, B.C., Canada, for his question:

Why are minutes and hours divided into 60 parts?

This idea started with the early astronomers who lived in the Middle East. Most likely it started at least 5,000 years ago. No doubt the idea grew bit by bit as the wise men learned more about what they liked to do. And their favorite occupation was studying the stars. They made charts to show how the sun and the moon, the stars and planets move over the sky. To do this they needed to invent numbers and math, such as circles and angles. Some of their favorite numbers were sixes and 60s.

The early astronomers of the Middle East used sixes to divide up their circles. The idea was so neat that everybody copied it  and nobody has changed it through thousands of years. At last clocks were invented    with round circular faces. It seemed natural to divide the hours and the minutes into 60 parts. It's nice to know that some of those wise men were the ancestors of the Magi who followed the Christmas Star to Bethlehem.