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Re: spherical geometry (was Re: navigation riddle)



Oops! I just noticed a small error in my last post. I wrote:

Regarding Jack's comments:

I think that the interesting part of the original problem is that
it requires the solver to realize that plane geometry is not
involved.

I disagree. The radius of curvature of the earth is over 6000 times
the length scale of the problem as it is stated. A flat earth
approximation is quite sufficient.

I accidentally was thinking in terms of kilometers rather than in
terms of miles as the problem stated. I ought to have said that
the radius of curvature of the earth is around 4000 times the
length scale of the problem as it is stated. In any event a flat
earth approximation is still quite sufficient.

David Bowman