Applying Mathematics to Astro Navigation
Author : Jack Case
Publisher :
Release : 2014-02-19
ISBN-13 : 9781496012067
Page : 182 pages
Rating : 4.5/5 from 067 voters
This latest addition to the 'Astro Navigation Demystified' family focuses on the mathematical principles upon which astro navigation is based and will appeal to anyone with an interest in these subjects. It's aims are not only to demonstrate the application of mathematics to astro navigation but also to provide a system of navigation which could be used in circumstances where navigators are faced with problems caused by failure of satellite navigation systems or even in 'survival at sea' situations.Few navigation books describe techniques that involve first principles; instead they mostly describe methods which rely upon the use of tables of computed data and rote-learned procedures. There is obviously very little educational value in such techniques; far better that students of the subject should be helped to discover and apply the underlying principles for themselves. Accordingly, the approach adopted in this book involves putting the student in the place of a navigator who has no automated navigation equipment, chronometer or 'Sat. Nav.' and who must therefore discover a means of navigating without them. To this end, readers are guided through a method of calculating a position on the earth's surface by the application of spherical trigonometry without reliance upon equipment other than a sextant and a nautical almanac.