[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on Navigation and Math
Navigation is an art and science of maneuvering safely and efficiently from one point to another. The word navigation (Latin navis, “boat”; agire, “guide”) traditionally meant the art or science of conducting ships and other watercraft from one place to another (Frank, 1998). Today, navigators guide craft on land and in the air as well as on the water (and underwater in submarines). A pleasure boater navigates when she steers a small boat through fog to a safe harbor. So do navy officers on a submarine, the cockpit crew of a passenger airplane, soldiers in a modern tank, and paramedics in an ambulance. Navigation is not limited to people traveling in vehicles or craft: Pedestrians, such as hikers in the woods trying to find the next campground, also navigate.
Longitude and Latitude
Almost all maps and charts are designed so that north is at the top, south at the bottom, east on the right, and west on the left. In addition, maps and charts show latitude and longitude, a system of geometrical coordinates that provides a simple way to identify location. Navigators express their north-south position using parallels of latitude—lines running across a map, chart, or globe from left to right (west to east). A latitude coordinate indicates distance from the equator, which encircles the middle of the globe, dividing it into the northern and southern hemispheres (Frank, 1998). Navigators express their east-west position with meridians of longitude, lines running from top to bottom (north to south) on a map, chart, or globe. A longitude coordinate indicates distance from the prime meridian, which runs through Greenwich, England, near London.
Navigators express distance in terms of degrees (usually indicated by the symbol °). Parallels of latitude north of the equator, which lies at 0°, are identified as north, and those south of the equator are identified as south...............
