Originally posted by Wasp89
Thanks everyone for the comments.
It really is just your run-of-the-mill trigonometry, using tangents to find the slopes of both lines based off of the heading and then setting the two resulting linear equations (Equation of a Line) equal to each other and solving for x; then you plug the x into either linear equation and solve for z. Then you just use one of the points, find the distance between that point and the x,z coordinate which you just solved for (Pythagorean Theorem) , then use the tangent function to find the height of the point above the test point (tanP=height/base). Add that last value to the y-value of your test point, and you have your y. The equations look a lot more complicated then they really are. The tricky bit is making sure you know exactly where you were in space when your science officer reports his data, and also making sure you adjust the heading degree to fit the trigonometric convention for reporting degrees.
I imagine that it would probably be pretty easy to set up an excel sheet for this. I'll look into it; if I find that I can make something fairly easily, I'll upload it to filefront and post a link here.
Sorry, but my maths skills are about as much use as a chocolate fire guard! What in the name of all non-maths peeps did you just say. I got as far as "It really is just your run-of-the-mill...", then it all phased out for a while, I got the odd normal work like: then, and, it, etc. But most of it was utter gibberish to me.
Case in point: I was talking to Ping the other day, about not knowing how an equation with the same numbers and actions applied to it can come out with 2 different answers (quadratic equation). His responce was something like "Because it depends on where the line crosses the axis on the graph will give you different answers" or something like that. I was still woundering where the graph came into it. As far as I knew, I was adding a few numbers together, not drawing nice pictures. I am sure Ping will correct me and give the real explanation of what was said!
Maths 101 for people like me:
1. Pick a number, any number
2. Pick another number, any number,
3. Add the 2 numbers together
4. What you should get is a number that is bigger than the 1st. If not, you done it wrong!
But, as every one else its saying what a good job you have done, well done Wasp, I must trust the fellow pilots that what you just said does actualy work!
