Charters, is there anything you don't know???
I did land surveying for over 8 years, so I know what you're saying is true. It is simply cook book mathematics. If you ever try to figure it out (be certain), the only thing that you become certain of, is that you are lost.
I once fought a traffic ticket in court. They used time and distance measurements (vascar) to determine speed. Since I was an expert in measuring distances, I started out by asking how they measured the distance that was used to calculate the speed. (I brought the Davis Foote and Kelly text along). I presented geodetic problems into what should have been a simple plane survey measure measurement along with the usual problems of temperature, systematic error etc. etc. The judge gave up trying to understand, and just dismissed the case.
Like you said, it is very confusing, especially for someone that hasn't studied the problems of measurement.
Anyway, As a former surveyor, I really enjoyed how well you explained the problem. |
