Did you know that 60 minutes = 1 degree?

Yes I knew that

But what I'm saying is some API units measure 5 digits in DEGREES only
and other API unit measure 5 digits in DEGREES + Minutes

I don't understand why not just keep it in 5 digit DEGREES ONLY
why mix it up with Degrees + Minutes?

 

Why don't you ask the fellow who wrote the API?

 

True

There must be a reason why designers or in an application they would want to know the servos or synchos minutes instead of degrees

It must apply to some kinds of circuits , to want to know the servos or synchos minutes and not the degrees

Do you guys know about this?

 

When I ask for color I get back red, green and blue, 3 digits each.
I just want to know what color it is.

 

True

Well some API units are displayed in degrees only , which is XXX.XX

other API units are displayed in degrees and minutes which is displayed with the First three digits in degrees and two in minutes

XXX.XX

The API examples are like 244 degrees at 15 minutes
or like 120 degree at 55 minutes
or like 60 degrees at 3 minutes

If They keep it all in degrees , without using the minutes, why would it be less accurate resolution

When measuring angles,minutes are a fraction of a degree,just as when measuring time,minutes are a fraction of an hour.(1/60 in each case).

We use the same name for the unit,but it does not mean time duration in the angle case.

Yes, we could use degrees & decimal parts of degrees,& this is sometimes done,but degrees & minutes are the way it has been done for a long time.

Those displays which just use minutes mean that you only have to read one unit--very useful if many people are taking measurements & recording them on a paper sheet for later use in making a graph.

Imagine the confusion if one person recorded it in degrees plus decimal parts of a degree,the next in degrees & minutes,& the last one in
minutes!

Something similar happens at the Hardware store.
I go in wanting a 2.3m length of dowelling,& they charge it out to me as 2300mm.

 

I don't understand why on an API angle position indication that measure the degrees and Minutes

Why do you need to know the Minutes of a Servo or Synco Motor?

The Minutes tell you what?

I would think they would just need to know how many degrees and angle it is at

Think Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds.

Some classes of fits, required dimensions to be in Seconds, also.

 

And the relations to clocks is longitude. Locations on earth are defined in degrees, minutes, and seconds. With a accurate time piece (clock) and a sexton you can figure out where you are on earth. As I said, it is all related, and very old.

One of the reasons the metric system was invented was for things like miles, feet, inches, fractions of an inch. The difference is Latitude / Longitude and all its related math were never redefined. While radians are a similar measurement they were never applied to time pieces and location on the earth, being a mathematical abstraction instead.

Many times you just have to use the existing standards, no matter how archaic they are.