Week 1 - Problem Set

Due Date: June 15, 2021

1 Visualizing the Celestial Sphere

1. Consider a triangle on the surface of a sphere that consists of the North pole and two points
at a latitude of 20o N. The arcs between the North pole and the two other points are arcs of
a meridian of longitude and the arc between the two points at 20o N is part of the parallel of
latitude. Is this a spherical triangle? If the two points were at the Equator instead, would this
be a spherical triangle?
2. Sketch the largest possible spherical triangle on the surface of a sphere.
3. In which situations would it be reasonable to use plane trigonometry formulas to approximate
the values of the angles and sides of a spherical triangle?

4. Is it possible for a spherical triangle to have three right angles? If so, calculate the ratio between
the area of this spherical triangle and the surface area of the sphere.
5. Consider a great circle that intersects the Earth’s Equator at an angle of 45o . What is the
spherical angle in the intersection between this great circle and the meridian of longitude of its
Southernmost point.

6. Sketch the trajectory of a plane flying from Lima (12o 21 S and 77o 11 W) to Yogyakarta (7o 471 S
and 110o 261 E) assuming that it takes the shortest path possible. You don’t need to calculate
anything for this question.

2 Using the Formulas

1. One of the three spherical trigonometry formulas is ambiguous. In other words, if you use this
formula, you will get two possible answers and you might not able to tell which one is right
depending on the context. Which formula is that and why is it ambiguous?
2. For a spherical triangle with sides a = 70o , b = 50o , and an angle C = 85o . Calculate the
remaining angles and sides of the triangle.
3. Consider two points at a latitude of 25o . The difference in longitude between these two points
is equal to 50o Demonstrate that the path through an arc of a great circle between these points
is shorter than the path through the parallel of latitude.

3 Challenge
1. An airplane was flying from Lima, capital of Peru (12o 21 S and 77o 11 W) to Yogyakarta (7o 471 S
and 110o 261 E), near the venue of the 9th IOAA. The airplane chooses the shortest flight path
from Lima to Yogyakarta. Find the latitude of the southernmost point of the flight path.