Its usefulness arises from its decimal or centesimal division, and the fact that to square chains make an acre.
His services to industry included his improvements in the processes for the manufacture of sulphuric acid (1818) and oxalic acid (1829); methods of estimating the amount of real alkali in potash and soda by the volume of standard acid required for neutralization, and for estimating the available chlorine in bleaching powder by a solution of arsenious acid; directions for the use of the centesimal alcoholometer published in 1824 and specially commended by the Institute; and the elaboration of a method of assaying silver by a standard solution of common salt, a volume on which was published in 1833.
In Order To Adapt It To The Gregorian Calendar, We Must First Add The To Days That Were Left Out Of The Year 1582; In The Second Place We Must Add One Day For Every Century That Has Elapsed Since 1600, In Consequence Of The Secular Suppression Of The Intercalary Day; And Lastly We Must Deduct The Units Contained In A Fourth Of The Same Number, Because Every Fourth Centesimal Year Is Still A Leap Year.Q Denoting, Therefore, The Number Of The Century (Or The Date After The Two Right Hand Digits Have Been Struck Out) By C, The Value Of L Must Be Increased By 10 (C 16) (6 C L = 7M 3 X (4 X) W Io (C 16) (C 4 16) W; That Is, Since 3 To =13 Or 6 (The 7 Days Being Rejected, As They Do Not Affect The Value Of L), L=7M 6 X () W _ 16) (_ L _ 6)W; This Formula Is Perfectly General, And Easily Calculated.
Briggs appreciated clearly the advantages of a centesimal division of the quadrant, and by dividing the degree into hundredth parts instead of into minutes, made a step towards a reformation in this respect, and but for the appearance of Vlacq's work the decimal division of the degree might have become recognized.
In 1784 the French government decided that new tables of sines, tangents, &c., and their logarithms, should be calculated in relation to the centesimal division of the quadrant.