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A compass, also commonly known as a pair of compasses, is a technical drawing instrument that can be used for inscribing circles or arcs. As dividers, it can also be used as a tool to mark out distances, in particular, on maps. Compasses can be used for mathematics, drafting, navigation and other purposes.
The compass can have an arbitrarily large radius with no markings on it (unlike certain real-world compasses). Circles and circular arcs can be drawn starting from two given points: the centre and a point on the circle. The compass may or may not collapse (i.e. fold after being taken off the page, erasing its 'stored' radius).
In geometry, the compass equivalence theorem is an important statement in compass and straightedge constructions. The tool advocated by Plato in these constructions is a divider or collapsing compass , that is, a compass that "collapses" whenever it is lifted from a page, so that it may not be directly used to transfer distances.
Martin originally intended his book to be a graduate-level textbook for students planning to become mathematics teachers. [2] However, as well as this use, it can also be read by anyone who is interested in the history of geometry and has an undergraduate-level background in abstract algebra, or used as a reference work on the topic of geometric constructions.
A beam compass is a compass with a beam and sliding sockets or cursors for drawing and dividing circles larger than those made by a regular pair of compasses. [1] The instrument can be as a whole, or made on the spot with individual sockets (called trammel points) and any suitable beam.
Direction determination refers to the ways in which a cardinal direction or compass point can be determined in navigation and wayfinding.The most direct method is using a compass (magnetic compass or gyrocompass), but indirect methods exist, based on the Sun path (unaided or by using a watch or sundial), the stars, and satellite navigation.
Live Geometry is a free CodePlex project that lets you create interactive ruler and compass constructions and experiment with them. It is written in Silverlight 4 and C# 4.0 (Visual Studio 2010). The core engine is a flexible and extensible framework that allows easy addition of new figure types and features.
"Relative" means that it does not state or imply any compass directions whatsoever. The vessel can be pointed in any direction. The clock numbers are relative to the direction in which the vessel points. The angular distance between adjacent clock numbers is 30 degrees, a round unit that simplifies mathematical juggling.