gotpho Posted February 28, 2008 Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 I have no idea how to approach this problem. Radius of earth is 3963 mi The latitude of Lima, Peru is 12 degree south. About how far from Lima is the south pole? I'm guessing you draw a 12 degree angle from the center in the 4th quadrant of a graph. Thus, you get a triangle but what would be the next step? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeztar Posted February 28, 2008 Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 How many degrees of latitude are there? :phones: Btw, what level math are you taking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turtle Posted February 28, 2008 Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 I have no idea how to approach this problem. Radius of earth is 3963 mi The latitude of Lima, Peru is 12 degree south. About how far from Lima is the south pole? I'm guessing you draw a 12 degree angle from the center in the 4th quadrant of a graph. Thus, you get a triangle but what would be the next step? Well, you have some idea. :phones: :evil: I'm thinking that if the radius is 3963, then the circumference is 3963 * 2 * pi, and then since there are 360 degrees in a circle, I'm thinking divide circumference by 360, giving you miles-per-degree. Then, finish up by.... figuring from there. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffy Posted February 28, 2008 Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 Of course those solutions are "as the crow flies" and the answer may actually be asking for "as the gopher digs".... Dig the well before you are thirsty, :phones:Buffy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turtle Posted February 28, 2008 Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 Of course those solutions are "as the crow flies" and the answer may actually be asking for "as the gopher digs".... Dig the well before you are thirsty, :DBuffy True enough; however, the crow flies as the geography goes, and the gopher digs as the geometry goes. :evil: What class is this for gotpho? :phones: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotpho Posted February 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 How many degrees of latitude are there? :) Btw, what level math are you taking? This was for Precal. I happened to have solve it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeztar Posted February 29, 2008 Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 This was for Precal. I happened to have solve it. Good for you! :) How did you approach it? If you post your answer (with work), one of us can check it for you. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotpho Posted February 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 Well I realized you could find the arc length s=r * radian of angle but using 12 degree wasn't right. I realized that you had to subtract 90 degree from 12 to get the angle between the two points. so the final formula S=r*(90-12)*pie/180 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turtle Posted February 29, 2008 Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 Well I realized you could find the arc length s=r * radian of angle but using 12 degree wasn't right. I realized that you had to subtract 90 degree from 12 to get the angle between the two points. so the final formula S=r*(90-12)*pie/180 Mmmm...my method wasn't far off. :eek_big: I get 5395.052507 miles using your equation, and 5810.056546 miles from mine. A variance of ~ 1%. (I used 1.314159 for pi) :) PS hold on....B) OK I get 5395.052507 for mine too; I subtracted 12 from 90 wrong and used 84 instead of 78. B):doh: Resume your normal activities. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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