Protractor on the dial from 180°, as the dial is graduated from opposite zero marks to 90° each way. Since the spaces, both on the main scale and the Vernier scale, are numbered both to the right and to the left from zero, any angle can be measured. The readings can be taken either to the right or to the left, according to the direction in which the zero on the main scale is moved. Reading the Vernier scale: The bevel protractor Vernier scale may have graduations of 5′ (minutes) or 1/12°. Each space on the Vernier scale is 5′ less
Foundations of geometry as "Birkhoff's axioms". These postulates are all based on basic geometry that can be experimentally verified with a scale and protractor. In a radical departure from the synthetic approach of Hilbert, Birkhoff was the first to build the foundations of geometry on the real number system. It is this powerful assumption that permits the small number of axioms in this system. Birkhoff uses four undefined terms: "point", "line", "distance" and "angle". His postulates are: Postulate I: Postulate of Line Measure. The points "A", "B", ... of any line can be put into 1:1 correspondence with the real numbers "x" so