Calculating Distance between Pittsburgh and Miami | Earth Radius: 3960 miles

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on calculating the distance between Pittsburgh and Miami using the Earth's radius of 3960 miles. The initial calculation involved finding the angle difference of 15 degrees and converting it to radians incorrectly as 3π/16. The correct conversion is achieved by using the factor π/180, leading to the accurate distance calculation of 330π miles. The user successfully corrected their approach after receiving feedback.

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Gablar16
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Hey all. This seems simple enough but, my answer doesn't match the one on the textbook and I can't see where I'm doing something wrong.

The city of pittsburg its at aproximatly 40.5 degrees and miami at 25.5 of the same meridian. Find the distance between the two cities. (earth radius is 3960 miles)

my first step was to try and find the angle so I did 40.5-25.5=15

if what I did above is correct then the rest should be simple.

convert 15 degrees to radians which in my calculations is 3Pi/16

Then I used Theta= s/r to get 1485Pi/2 or aproximatly 2332 miles but the textbook gives another answer (330Pi)

ANy help?
 
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Gablar16 said:
convert 15 degrees to radians which in my calculations is 3Pi/16
Incorrect, try to calculate it again.
 
ouch! I got the right answer now. I multiply 15 by Pi/80 instead of Pi/180.

after that correction the answer is right. Thanks very much!

Edit: Tried latex but still need some practice
 
Last edited:

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