Chapter 4.1, Problem 67E

Solution

To identify: The distance between San Diego and Los Angeles in nautical miles. assume that the two cities have the same longitude.

The distance between San Diego and Los Angeles 80 nautical miles.

Given information

The table is:

  

Explanation:

Consider the given information from the table, longitude position of San Diego is $80°12\text{'}$ and longitude position of Los Angeles is $122°20\text{'}$ .

Hence the difference in longitude between the cities San Diego and Los Angeles is

  $34°\text{ 03'}-32°43\text{'}$ .

Subtract the degrees from degrees and minutes from minutes with the subtraction of minutes first to obtain: $34°\text{ 03'}-32°43\text{'}=1°20\text{'}$ .

Thus, the difference in longitude between the cities San Diego and Los Angeles is $1°20\text{'}$

Since $1°=60\text{'}$ is 60 minutes so $1°20\text{'}=80$ minutes of arc. Since 1 minute of arc of earth’s circumference is 1 nautical mile, so 80 minutes of arc is 80 nautical miles.