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However, when it is inconvenient to use base-60 for minutes and seconds, positions are frequently expressed as decimal fractional degrees to an equal amount of precision. Degrees given to three decimal places ( 1 / 1000 of a degree) have about 1 / 4 the precision of degrees-minutes-seconds ( 1 / 3600 of a degree) and ...
degrees and decimal minutes: 40° 26.767′ N 79° 58.933′ W; decimal degrees: +40.446 -79.982; There are 60 minutes in a degree and 60 seconds in a minute. Therefore, to convert from a degrees minutes seconds format to a decimal degrees format, one may use the formula
Additional precision can be provided using decimal fractions of an arcsecond. Maritime charts are marked in degrees and decimal minutes to facilitate measurement; 1 minute of latitude is 1 nautical mile. The example above would be given as 40° 11.25′ (commonly written as 11′25 or 11′.25). [12]
Decimal degrees are an alternative to using sexagesimal degrees (degrees, minutes, and seconds - DMS notation). As with latitude and longitude, the values are bounded by ±90° and ±180° respectively. Positive latitudes are north of the equator, negative latitudes are south of the equator.
Angles in the hours ( h), minutes ( m), and seconds ( s) of time measure must be converted to decimal degrees or radians before calculations are performed. 1 h = 15°; 1 m = 15′; 1 s = 15″ Angles greater than 360° (2 π ) or less than 0° may need to be reduced to the range 0°−360° (0–2 π ) depending upon the particular calculating ...
Minutes and seconds need not be specified. If no degrees are specified then a value of zero is assumed. This template does not attempt to trap invalid values and results in this case might be undefined. The decimal precision of the result is determined by the value assigned rnd, which defaults to 7.
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The minute of arc (or MOA, arcminute, or just minute) is 1 / 60 of a degree = 1 / 21,600 turn. It is denoted by a single prime ( ′ ). For example, 3° 30′ is equal to 3 × 60 + 30 = 210 minutes or 3 + 30 / 60 = 3.5 degrees.