Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:08:32 -0600
From: "Strickert, Rick" <rstrickert@signaturescience.com>
To: Forum for Physics Educators <phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu>
> ...
> The Vostok station is located at 78° 27'51.92"S
> 106° 50'14.38"E. Thus, from the South Pole one could
> refer travelling to it in a north-east direction (preferably
> with the aid of a good GPS).
Again, even if someone agreed with this convention, it does not address
the original problem of going SOUTH-east of the SOUTH Pole, which was
the original question arising from the original mistake.
But I would disagree with this convention. John Denker is absolutely
correct in observing latitude has nothing to do with it. As I wrote
before, you _could_ specify the line of longitude, 106° 50'14.38"E,
but that's not a compass point -- it's (half of) a great circle. The
fundamental problem is the coordinate system, and mixing a singular
point in that system with non-singular compass directions.
_________________
Christopher M. Gould 213-740-1101 Dept. of Physics & Astronomy
gould@usc.edu Univ. of Southern California http://physics.usc.edu/~gould/ Los Angeles, CA 90089-0484