SABARAGAMUWA UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA

FACULTY OF GEOMATICS
DEPARTMENT OF SURVEYING AND GEODESY
FC 12260 -VECTOR CALCULUS AND SPHERICAL TRIGONOMETRY

Tutorial 02

1. Let ABC be a Spherical Triangle. Show that π < A + B + C < 3π.

2. Which of the following triangles exist on a sphere?

π π π
(a) A triangle whose angles are , , .
2 4 4
π π π
(b) A triangle whose angles are , , .
2 3 4
π 5π π
(c) A triangle whose angles are , , .
2 6 2
7π 7π 7π
(d) A triangle whose angles are , , .
4 3 4

3. Solve the following ABC Spherical Triangles

(a) c = 900 , a = 1380 4′ , b = 1090 41′
(b) A = 1290 5′ 28′′ , B = 1420 12′ 42′′ , C = 1050 8′ 10′′
(c) a = 590 28′ 27′′ , A = 660 7′ 20′′ , C = 900

4. Let A be a pole of a great circle which passes through the points B and C, then geometrically prove
that:
(a) BC = B ÂC
π π
(b) AB = 2 and AC = 2

5. With the usual notations, let ABC be a spherical triangle and E be the Spherical Excess of ABC.
1 1 1 1
sin (A+B) cos (a − b) cos (A+B) cos (a + b)
(a) show that 2 = 2 and 2 = 2 .
1 1 1 1
cos C cos c sin C cos c
2 2 2 2
1
cos 12 (a − b)
cos 21 (C−E)
sin
2
(C−E) cos 12 (a + b)
(b) Use results in part (a) to deduce that 1 = and 1 =
1 cos 12 c
cos C cos c sin C
2 2 2
1 1 1 1
and hence deduce that sin E = sin C sin a sin b sec c.
2 2 2 2

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