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(This is the angle α opposite the "rise" side of a triangle with a right angle between vertical rise and horizontal run.) as a percentage, the formula for which is which is equivalent to the tangent of the angle of inclination times 100. In Europe and the U.S. percentage "grade" is the most commonly used figure for describing slopes.
Somewhat more formally, Bowditch defines variation as "the angle between the magnetic and geographic meridians at any place, expressed in degrees and minutes east or west to indicate the direction of magnetic north from true north. The angle between magnetic and grid meridians is called grid magnetic angle, grid variation, or grivation." [1]
Triangulation may be used to find the position of the ship when the positions of A and B are known. An observer at A measures the angle α, while the observer at B measures β. The position of any vertex of a triangle can be calculated if the position of one side, and two angles, are known.
To calculate the azimuth of the Sun or a star given its declination and hour angle at a specific location, modify the formula for a spherical Earth. Replace φ 2 with declination and longitude difference with hour angle, and change the sign (since the hour angle is positive westward instead of east). [citation needed]
The cosine of the hour angle (cos(h)) is used to calculate the solar zenith angle. At solar noon, h = 0.000 so cos(h) = 1, and before and after solar noon the cos(± h) term = the same value for morning (negative hour angle) or afternoon (positive hour angle), so that the Sun is at the same altitude in the sky at 11:00AM and 1:00PM solar time. [5]
In China, Pei Xiu (224–271) identified "measuring right angles and acute angles" as the fifth of his six principles for accurate map-making, necessary to accurately establish distances, [5] while Liu Hui (c. 263) gives a version of the calculation above, for measuring perpendicular distances to inaccessible places.
The user may choose to replace the inclination angle by its complement, the elevation angle (or altitude angle), measured upward between the reference plane and the radial line—i.e., from the reference plane upward (towards to the positive z-axis) to the radial line. The depression angle is the negative of the elevation angle.
The dip angle is in principle the angle made by the needle of a vertically held compass, though in practice ordinary compass needles may be weighted against dip or may be unable to move freely in the correct plane. The value can be measured more reliably with a special instrument typically known as a dip circle.