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d is the distance between the two points along a great circle of the sphere (see spherical distance), r is the radius of the sphere. The haversine formula allows the haversine of θ to be computed directly from the latitude (represented by φ) and longitude (represented by λ) of the two points:
A diagram illustrating great-circle distance (drawn in red) between two points on a sphere, P and Q. Two antipodal points, u and v are also shown. The great-circle distance, orthodromic distance, or spherical distance is the distance between two points on a sphere, measured along the great-circle arc between them. This arc is the shortest path ...
That is (unlike road distance with one-way streets) the distance between two points does not depend on which of the two points is the start and which is the destination. [11] It is positive, meaning that the distance between every two distinct points is a positive number, while the distance from any point to itself is zero. [11]
Radius of curvature and center of curvature. In differential geometry, the radius of curvature, R, is the reciprocal of the curvature. For a curve, it equals the radius of the circular arc which best approximates the curve at that point. For surfaces, the radius of curvature is the radius of a circle that best fits a normal section or ...
Angular distance or angular separation is the measure of the angle between the orientation of two straight lines, rays, or vectors in three-dimensional space, or the central angle subtended by the radii through two points on a sphere.
Finding the geodesic between two points on the Earth, the so-called inverse geodetic problem, was the focus of many mathematicians and geodesists over the course of the 18th and 19th centuries with major contributions by Clairaut, [5] Legendre, [6] Bessel, [7] and Helmert English translation of Astron. Nachr. 4, 241–254 (1825).
An inversion in their tangent point with respect to a circle of appropriate radius transforms the two touching given circles into two parallel lines, and the third given circle into another circle. Thus, the solutions may be found by sliding a circle of constant radius between two parallel lines until it contacts the transformed third circle.
A great circle separates the sphere into two equal hemispheres, each with the great circle as its boundary. If a great circle passes through a point on the sphere, it also passes through the antipodal point (the unique furthest other point on the sphere). For any pair of distinct non-antipodal points, a unique great circle passes through both.