Calculating the Distance between Two Inaccessible Points

Requires a Wolfram Notebook System


Requires a Wolfram Notebook System


Suppose that you can measure the distance between A and B and the angles from A and B to two inaccessible points C and D. For example, A and B might be on a straight road in a valley and C and D might be two visible mountain peaks. Then you can calculate the distance between C and D using the law of sines and the law of cosines.

Contributed by: George Beck (March 2011)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA




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