Mapping Mathematics

NCTM Southern Regional Conference

Charleston, SC
November 6, 2003



Dr. David Royster
Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education
UNC Charlotte
Charlotte, NC 28223
droyster@email.uncc.edu
Mapping Mathematics
NCTM Southern Regional Conference 2003 2 Dr. David Royster
CMSTE, UNC Charlotte
History
Early world maps reflect the religious beliefs of the form of the
world. For example maps have been discovered on Babylonian
clay tablets dating from around 600 B.C. One such map shows
Babylon and the surrounding area in a stylized form with
Babylon represented by a rectangle and the Euphrates river by
vertical lines. The area shown is depicted as circular surrounded
by water which fits the religious image of the world in which the
Babylonians believed.
Eratosthenes, around 250 B.C., made major contributions to
cartography. He measured the circumference of the Earth with
great accuracy. He sketched, quite precisely, the route of the Nile
to Khartoum, showing the two Ethiopian tributaries. He made
another important contribution in using a grid to locate positions
of places on the Earth. He was not the first to use such a grid for Dicaearchus, a follower of
Aristotle, had devised one about 50 years earlier. Today we use latitude and longitude to
determine such coordinates and Eratosthenes' grid was of a similar nature. Note, of course, that
the use of such positional grids are an early form of Cartesian geometry. Following Dicaearchus,
Eratosthenes chose a line through Rhodes and the Pillars of Hercules (present day Gibraltar) to
form one of the principal lines of his grid. This line is, to a quite high degree of accuracy, 36
north and Eratosthenes chose it since it divided the world as he knew it into two fairly equal parts
and defined the longest east-west extent known. He chose a defining line for the north-south
lines of his grid through Rhodes and drew seven parallel lines to each of his defining lines to
form a rectangular grid.

Mapping Mathematics
NCTM Southern Regional Conference 2003 3 Dr. David Royster
CMSTE, UNC Charlotte
Hipparchus was critical of the grid defined by Eratosthenes, saying reasonably enough that it was
chosen arbitrarily. He suggested that a grid should be chosen with astronomical significance so
that, for example, points on the same line would all have the same length of longest day.
Although Hipparchus never constructed a map as far as we know, he did make astronomical
observations to describe eleven parallels given by his astronomical definition. Although no
copies of the work by Eratosthenes and Hipparchus survives, we know of it through the
Geographical Sketches of Strabo which was completed in about 23 A.D. Although Strabo gives a
critical account of earlier contributions to cartography, he devotes only a small discussion to the
problem of projecting a sphere onto a plane. He states clearly that his work is not aimed at
mathematicians, rather at statesmen who need to know about the customs of the people and the
natural resources of the land.
The final ancient Greek contribution we consider was the most important and, unlike that of
Strabo, was written by a noted mathematician. In about 140 A.D. Ptolemy wrote his major work
Guide to Geography, in eight books, which attempted to map the known world giving
coordinates of the major places in terms of what are essentially latitude and longitude. The first
volume gives the basic principles of cartography and considers the problem of map projection,
that is mapping the sphere onto the plane. He gave two examples of projections, and also
described the construction of globes. Right at the beginning Ptolemy identifies two distinct types
of cartography, the first being:-
... an imitation through drawing of the entire known part of the world together with the things
which are, broadly speaking, connected with it.
The second type is:-
... an independent discipline [which] sets out the individual localities.
Now the main part of Geography consisted of maps but Ptolemy knew that although a scribe
could copy a text fairly accurately, there was little chance that maps could be successfully
copied. He therefore ensured that the work contained the data and the information necessary for
someone to redraw the maps. He followed previous cartographers in dividing the circle of the
equator into 360 and took the equator as the basis for the north-south coordinate system. Thus
the line of latitude through Rhodes and the Pillars of Hercules (present day Gibraltar) was 36
and this line divided the world as Ptolemy knew it fairly equally into two. The problem of
defining lines of longitude is more difficult. It required the choice of an arbitrary zero but it also
required a knowledge of the circumference of the Earth in order to have degrees correspond
correctly to distance. Ptolemy chose the Fortune Islands (which we believe are the Canary
Islands) as longitude zero since it was the most western point known to him. He then marked off
where the lines of longitude crossed the parallel of Rhodes, taking 400 stadia per degree.
Mapping Mathematics
NCTM Southern Regional Conference 2003 4 Dr. David Royster
CMSTE, UNC Charlotte

Ptolemy's map of the world.
Had Ptolemy taken the value of the circumference of the Earth worked out by Eratosthenes then
his coordinates would have been very accurate. However he used the later value computed by
Posidonius around 100 B.C. which, although computer using the correct mathematical theory, is
highly inaccurate. Therefore instead of the Mediterranean covering 42 as it should, it covers 62
in Ptolemy's coordinates. Books 2 to 7 of Geography contain the coordinates of about 8000
places, but although he knew the correct mathematical theory to compute such coordinates
accurately from astronomical observations, there were only a handful of places for which such
information existed. It is not surprising that the maps given by Ptolemy were quite inaccurate in
many places for he could not be expected to do more than use the available data and, for
anything outside the Roman Empire, this was of very poor quality with even some parts of the
Roman Empire severely distorted.
At a time when Christian Europe was producing religious representations of the world rather
than scientific maps, another type of map, or perhaps more accurately chart, for the use of sailors
began to appear. These were called portolan maps (from the Italian word for a sailing manual)
and were produced by sailors using a magnetic compass. The earliest examples we know about
date from the beginning of the 14
th
century, and were Italian or Catalan portolan maps. The
earliest portolan maps covered the Mediterranean and Black Sea and showed wind directions and
such information useful to sailors. The coast lines shown on these maps are by far the most
accurate to have been produced up to that time. The Catalan World Map produced in 1375 was
the work of Abraham Cresques from Palma in Majorca. He was a skilled cartographer and
instrument maker and the map was commissioned by Charles V of France. The western part of
his map was partly based on portolan maps while the eastern part was based on Ptolemy's data.
Mapping Mathematics
NCTM Southern Regional Conference 2003 5 Dr. David Royster
CMSTE, UNC Charlotte

Mercator made many new maps and globes, but his greatest contribution to cartography must be
the Mercator projection. He realized that sailors incorrectly assumed that following a particular
compass course would have them travel in a straight line. A ship sailing towards the same point
of the compass would follow a curve called a loxodrome (also called a rhumb line or spherical
helix), a curve which Pedro Nunez, a mathematician greatly admired by Mercator, had studied
shortly before. A new globe which Gerardus Mercator produced in 1541 was the first to have
rhumb lines shown on it. This work was an important stage in his developing the idea of the
Mercator projection which he first used in 1569 for a wall map of the world on 18 separate
sheets. The 'Mercator projection' has the property that lines of longitude, lines of latitude and
rhomb lines all appear as straight lines on the map. In this projection the meridians are vertical
and parallels having increased spacing in proportion to the secant of the latitude. Edward Wright
published mathematical tables to be used in calculating Mercator's projection in 1599.

Mercators World Map A Mercator Map of the Americas
Mapping Mathematics
NCTM Southern Regional Conference 2003 6 Dr. David Royster
CMSTE, UNC Charlotte
Latitude and Longitude
DEFINITIONS:
Latitude
Measurement of distance in degrees north or south of the Equator; from the Latin latus,
meaning wide.
Longitude
Measurement of distance in degrees east or west of the prime meridian; from the Latin
longus, meaning length.
WHERE ARE YOU?
The Earth's circumference is divided into 360 degrees (you should keep a world globe
handy when introducing these topics), each degree represented by an imaginary line
running either east-west or north-south on the surface of the Earth. The prime meridian is
the imaginary line which runs through the geographic North Pole to the geographic South
Pole, passing through Greenwich England. The prime meridian is defined as 0 E and 0
W. Each meridian (longitude line) to the west of Greenwich is labeled 1-180 W, while
each meridian to the east of Greenwich is labeled 1-180 E.
Why was Greenwich, England selected as 0 E and 0 W? (Find out on the Internet!)
Since the Earth's circumference (a complete circle) is 360 degrees, then directly opposite
the prime meridian is a meridian which can be labeled both as 180 E and 180 W. This
meridian is called the International Date Line. Likewise, the Equator is 0 N and 0 S
latitude. The geographic North Pole is 90 N latitude, while the South Pole is 90 S
latitude.
Why is 180E and 180W labeled the International Date Line?
Therefore, if you are trying to describe to anyone exactly where you're located on the
planet Earth, latitude and longitude will provide you with a means of answering the
question Where are you?.
Copyright 1988-2002 Microsoft Corp. and/or its suppliers. All rights reserved. http://www.microsoft.com/streets
Copyright 2001 by Geographic Data Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. 2001 Navigation Technologies. All rights reserved. This data includes information taken with permission from Canadian authorities Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada.
Charleston, SC
0 mi 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4


The Bar (graphic) Scale is particularly important when enlarging or reducing maps
by photocopy techniques because it changes with the map. If the Bar Scale is
included in the photocopy, you will have an indication of the new scale
Mercator Projection
USGS: http://lessonplanet.teacherwebtools.com/search/redirect?lpid=1175&mfcat=/search/Geography/Maps/startat10/&mfcount=67
Make a Mercator Projection
Follow the directions below to make a close approximation of the normal Mercator projection. A few activities with the map
are included to demonstrate the important characteristics of this projection.

Time
One 50-minute period for steps 1-10.
After photocopying in step 11, one 50-minute period for steps 11-14.

Materials needed per person
Protractor
Compass
Ruler
Two sheets of 11 x 17 inch paper
Transparent tape
Sharp pencil
Fine point pen, preferably black

Procedures













1. Tape the two pages together along the I7-inch sides and orient the paper as shown in illustration A, with the tape
on the reverse side.
2. The joint between the two pieces of paper will be the "equator." Lay the protractor on the paper with the flat side
on the left. Place the zero point and the 90-degree mark on the equator at least 2 inches from the edge of the
paper. Use the compass to draw a semicircle with a 6-inch diameter, flat side on the left. Mark the center (the zero
point, Z) on the diameter. IMPORTANT NOTE: Make all marks lightly in pencil, unless otherwise instructed.
3. Using a protractor, mark every 10 degrees around the semicircle (see illustration C). Starting at the top, label these
points A, B, C, ..., S.
s
a
b
d
f
h
z
Mercator Projection
USGS: http://lessonplanet.teacherwebtools.com/search/redirect?lpid=1175&mfcat=/search/Geography/Maps/startat10/&mfcount=67







4. Beginning at Z, measure left along the equator 2/5 of a radius (in this case, 1.2, inches) and mark a new point, T,
as shown above.
5. Using the protractor, draw the westernmost line of longitude perpendicular to the equator and tangent to the
original semicircle at point J.
6. Set the spacing of the lines of latitude as follows: With the left end of your ruler on point T, align the right side to
point I on the semicircle; mark where this line (TI) intersects the westernmost longitude line. Beginning again at
point T, mark points on the westernmost longitude for lines through points H, G, F, E, D, and C. Each point marks
10 degrees of latitude.
7. Draw latitude lines parallel to the equator through these new points. To make the latitudes parallel, measure the
distances between marks on the westernmost longitude line; copy these measurements and mark equivalent points
on the easternmost longitude line. Connect pairs of points (a western and an eastern), preferably beginning closest
to the equator. What would be a more geometric way of constructing these latitude lines?
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for latitudes south of the equator. Notice that on this projection, lines of latitude are parallel
and spacing between them increases away from the equator. Latitudes 90N and 90S cannot be shown on a
Mercator projection, because they are infinitely far from the equator (although this approximate construction does
not show this).







9. Set longitude lines as follows: Measure east 0.5 inches from the westernmost longitude and make a mark on the
equator. This represents 10 degrees of longitude. Repeat this step 17 more times, and you will have 180 degrees of
longitude. From each point on the equator, use the protractor to draw a perpendicular line. On the Mercator
projection, longitude lines are parallel and equally spaced, as shown in illustration G.
10. At this point, the map covers only half the planet (a hemisphere). Carefully trace this grid in ink.

z
s
s
z
T
J
60
60
0
180 W
Mercator Projection
USGS: http://lessonplanet.teacherwebtools.com/search/redirect?lpid=1175&mfcat=/search/Geography/Maps/startat10/&mfcount=67







11. To map the entire Earth, make two copies of the original and join the copies along the one's easternmost line of
longitude and the other's westernmost (see illustration H). Lines should connect across the copies. These two lines
both represent the Prime Meridian, the line of 0 degrees longitude.
12. Label the latitude and longitude lines along the right and bottom of the map. The equator is 0 degrees latitude,
and latitude values increase in increments of ten to the north and south. The westernmost longitude line is 180
degrees W; longitude values decrease in increments of ten to 0 degrees at the Prime Meridian, and increase again
to 180 degrees at the eastern edge of the map (see illustration H). This map approximates the characteristics of the
Mercator projection within about 2 percent.






13. Make a bar scale in the margin below the map. A bar scale is commonly centered below the map, in this case,
below the Prime Meridian. To determine the scale at the equator, divide the Earth's equatorial circumference
(24,902 miles; 40,075 kilometers) by 360 degrees; therefore, each degree of longitude and latitude at the equator
equals about 69 mi (about 111 km). Ten degrees of longitude at the equator (about 690 miles) is represented by 0.5
inch on the map; one inch represents 1,380 miles. Draw a line representing 3,000 miles (about 5,000 kilometers).
14. Locate your home city on the map by longitude and latitude. Locate at least 5 of the following cities: London, Paris,
Moscow, Washington, Cairo, Buenos Aires, Sydney, Beijing, Calcutta, Kabul, Baghdad, Johannesburg. Find the
compass headings from your home town to each of the cities that you chose.

180 W
180 E
60 N
60 S
0
180 W 180 E 0
1500 mi 0
Map Projections

Make a map of the Earth
1. Cut off the top of a soda bottle where the bottle straightens. Cut off the skinny neck of the
bottle without slicing through the "globe."
2. Draw lines of latitude and longitude on the inside of the globe. Doing this will be easier using
a bowl or some other round object to guide the marker.

3. To represent a planar projection, place the globe on a piece of tracing paper. Hold the
flashlight above the globe and shine its light down through the globe and onto the tracing paper.
Draw the lines of latitude and longitude as they are projected on the paper.

4. For a cylindrical projection, roll the tracing paper into a cylinder the diameter of the globe.
Shine the flashlight through the globe and onto the tracing paper. Draw the lines of latitude and
longitude as they are projected onto the paper.
5. A conical projection is a compromise between planar and cylindrical
projections. Make a cone out of the tracing paper and rest it on top of the
globe.
6. Shine the flashlight through the globe and into the cone. Draw the lines
of latitude and longitude as they are projected onto the cone.
7. Discuss alternative map-making methods that would minimize the
distortions inherent in maps.

Materials
Clear plastic soda bottle, flashlight, tracing paper, scissors, marker, pen

Last modified 06/02/2000 16:32:42
Copyright (c) 2000. Gulf of Maine Aquarium.
All rights reserved. Mail comments to satellite@octopus.gma.org
Make Your Own Globe

Flat maps may be easier to carry around, but there is still a need to make globes so that Earth's geography
can be viewed without any directional or spatial distortions. Printing the location of continents and oceans
directly onto a round surface would be difficult. Instead, this map of the Earth is printed in flat, roughly
triangular sections and then attached to a ball. These sections are called gores.
Make a globe
1. Using a tape measure, determine the circumference of the ball, making sure that the tape measure
circles the ball without wandering away from the equator.
2. On a large piece of paper draw a rectangle the same length as the circumference of the ball. The
height of the rectangle should be half the circumference of the ball. Draw an equator line through
the center of the rectangle, lengthwise.
3. Cut out the rectangle.
4. Place the rectangle in front of you horizontally. Fold it in half three times. Unfold the rectangle
and there are eight equal sections. Draw a line along each fold. Measure the bottom edge of one
section to find its midpoint, and mark that point A. Mark the end of the equator in that end
section B.

5. Find the midpoint between A and B as follows: Place the compass point on A. Set the compass
radius to a length just short of B and draw a semicircle. Maintaining the same radius, place the
compass point on B and draw a second semicircle. The two semicircles should intersect at two
points. Draw a straight line through the points where the semicircles intersect, extending the line
to a point at which it intersects the equator line. Mark this point C.
The length of the line from A to C is the radius of the gores.
6. Attach extra paper to both ends of the original piece (These extensions should be at least the
length of the gore radius) Extend the equator line out onto the extra paper at least the distance of
the gore radius. This will allow you to move your compass point out along the equator far enough
to draw all of the gores.
7. Set the compass to the gore radius (the distance between A and C). Place the compass pencil on A
and the compass point on C. Draw an arc from A to the top of the rectangle.
Maintaining the same compass radius, move the compass pencil to the midpoint of the bottom
edge of the next section and place the compass point on the equator. Draw another arc in the same
manner. Continue moving the compass and drawing arcs for each of the eight sections.
Turn the paper upside down and repeat the above procedure to draw the opposing arcs and form
the gores.
Remove the extra paper from the rectangle.
8. Create grid lines for transposing the map onto the rectangle as follows :
Fold the rectangle as you did in Step 3. Fold once more in the same direction. Unfold the
rectangle, and place it in front of you horizontally. Fold it in half, top to bottom, three times.
Unfold the rectangle. The rectangle should be divided into 16 sections left to right and 8 sections
top to bottom. Cut out the spaces between the gores. Transpose the map from the given to your
gores using the gridlines on the diagram and the gridlines (folds) on the gores as a reference.

9. Tape the strip of gores at one end of the equator to the ball. Wrap the strip around the ball and
tape the loose ends in place, taking care to align the equator line.

10. Glue each gore down against the ball so the tips meet to form the north and south poles.

Make an Orange Globe
To demonstrate the difficulty in making a flat map of a round surface make a map out of an orange peel.
Try to peel an orange with an X-acto knife so that you take off the skin in one piece. Make a flat
projection of the surface of the orange by laying the peel flat. Does your peel look like the gores from the
previous activity?
Materials
paper, ball (about the size of a playground ball), glue, tape, paints, ruler, tape measure, compass, pencil

Last modified 06/02/2000 16:32:50
Copyright (c) 2000. Gulf of Maine Aquarium.
All rights reserved. Mail comments to satellite@octopus.gma.org