Thread:User talk:CodeCat/Why did you remove the Sexagenary cycle category I created?/reply (7)

Yes, those are different. There are a confusing variety of different systems, with stem-branch/sexagenary being one of several.

Actually, I was mistaken about the way the cycle works: apparently, the Heavenly Stems and the Earthly Branches run concurrently, with the Heavenly Stems incrementing once for for every two steps of the Earthly Branches (for years, anyway): 1/1, 1/2, 2/3, 2/4, etc. That does, indeed, mean that the cycle repeats every 60 times, but it also means that half of the stem-branch combinations can never occur.