Author
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Topic: sextant angle & height
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Michael Mitgang
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posted January 25, 2005 11:23 PM
why, when you use the "short cut" H/H(s)/100 you do not use height above line of sight (ie. height of object minus observers height above water)? How should you be treating it if you use a tangent calculation? I would think that in both circumstances you would use height above water, but that does not appear to be how it is shown in the answers. Also, using tangents rather than short cut gives a difference in answer of about 4%. Is that correct?
From: Menlo Park, CA
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David Burch
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posted January 26, 2005 11:05 PM
If we worked this out rigorously, our height of eye would be in the equation, and the right formula depends on how far off we are. In the text we give a simple approximation that could easily be 4% or even perhaps a bit more than that in error.
If you want to investigate the correct solution versus tangent or the book approximation, then you can use the NIMA computers that we have presented in our online library.... or you can do it with tables:
see Explanation of Tables
Table 15
Table 16
Table 17
From: Starpath, Seattle, WA
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