Standard-HW01

Vince Cronin
Completed 26 January 2017

Introduction and Statement of Problem

Use Google Earth to find the latitude and longitude of some place that is of interest to you, using decimal degrees. Create a Mathematica notebook with headers for its title, introduction, input data, computation, output, and references (if any). Save the notebook using your last name as the first part of the notebook name, then the homework number. For example, “Cronin-HW01”. Add text to the notebook providing your name, the date you began and completed the notebook, a statement of the problem, and relevant explanations of the variables and code. Finally, add input lines of executable code.
The purpose of this notebook is to compute the unit location vector to the point that is of interest to you.

Input Data

The reference point for this exercise is the house that I grew up in, which is also the house my mom grew up in and lived for 65 years.  It is in Hollywood, California.

The variable lat is the decimal latitude of a reference point.

lat=34.102820;

The variable long is the decimal ongitude of a reference point.

long=-118.357108;

Computation

Computational Process

The variables x, y, and z are the Cartesian coordinates associated with the reference point.

x=Cos[lat Degree]Cos[long Degree];

y=Cos[lat Degree]Sin[long Degree];

z=Sin[lat Degree];

The variable result is the answer we are seeking.

result={x,y,z};

Output Data

The variable result is the answer we are seeking.

result

References

Cronin, V.S., 2017, A brief primer on plate kinematics, with Mathematica:  unpublished draft, http://croninprojects.org/Vince/PlateKinematics/KinematicsPrimer/KinematicsCh2.nb