Trigonometry- Converting from DMS to DD and rounding

[opus]

Homework Statement

Convert 24*8'15'' to Degree Decimal notation. Round to the nearest second.
(Let * denote the 'degree' symbol. I couldn't find it anywhere in Latex)

Homework Equations

The Attempt at a Solution

24* + 8[(1)/(60)]* + 15[(1)/(3600)]*
= 24.1375*

This is the solution, before rounding. I'm unclear about what it means to round to the nearest second with a decimal like this? In the decimal, which part constitutes the seconds and which is the minutes?

 

[Mark44]

Homework Statement

Convert 24*8'15'' to Degree Decimal notation. Round to the nearest second.
(Let * denote the 'degree' symbol. I couldn't find it anywhere in Latex)

Homework Equations

The Attempt at a Solution

24* + 8[(1)/(60)]* + 15[(1)/(3600)]*
= 24.1375*

This is the solution, before rounding. I'm unclear about what it means to round to the nearest second with a decimal like this? In the decimal, which part constitutes the seconds and which is the minutes?

This doesn't make a lot of sense to me either. The only thing I can think of, other than there is a mistake in the problem wording, is this: A second is 1/60 of a degree, or .01666... of a degree. The fractional part of your answer is between 8' and 9'. Figure out the closest multiple of .01666'.

If it were me, I would talk to the instructor to get clarification on what this means

 

[opus]

That's what I was thinking as well, but today was my first day in the class and my last resort is to blame to material or instructor when I can't figure something out. Glad you could provide some clarity. Thank you Mark.

 

[scottdave]

That's what I was thinking as well, but today was my first day in the class and my last resort is to blame to material or instructor when I can't figure something out. Glad you could provide some clarity. Thank you Mark.

I concur that it doesn't really make sense. Perhaps it was leftover from another problem which converted Decimal Degrees to Degrees Minutes Seconds, then round to the nearest second. I wouldn't so much as say to "blame" the instructor. Just let him know that you don't understand the meaning of the instructions. Is this high school or college? Perhaps there is a TA you could talk with?

Another note: You can get the degree (°) symbol at least two ways. One is to click the Σ button in the toolbar at the top of the textbox that you are typing. It gives you a bunch of common symbols (which show up below the textbox). Then if you have a PC, you can do it with the keyboard by holding down the Alt key then (on the number keypad) type 0 1 7 6 keys, then release the Alt key.

 

[opus]

Thanks for the responses guys. The Trigonometry is part of a college PreCalculus course, and I asked my instructor this morning and it was indeed a typo. The "round to the nearest second" portion was supposed to go onto the next question.
And thanks for the tech tip scottdave. Very useful.