Find shortest between two points on a ball given their azimuthal and polar angles (in degrees) as well as the radius of the sphere.
Solution Stats
Problem Comments
4 Comments
Solution Comments
Show comments
Loading...
Problem Recent Solvers280
Suggested Problems
-
1777 Solvers
-
Arrange Vector in descending order
13355 Solvers
-
Convert a numerical matrix into a cell array of strings
2389 Solvers
-
332 Solvers
-
Given a square and a circle, please decide whether the square covers more area.
1731 Solvers
More from this Author56
Problem Tags
Community Treasure Hunt
Find the treasures in MATLAB Central and discover how the community can help you!
Start Hunting!
I took complements of the test case polar angles in order to agree with customary definitions of polar angle.
I agree. Polar angles are, by convention, measured from the pole, but in this problem you have to consider them to be measure from the equator if you wish to agree with the test cases.
I think considering polar angles measured from pole or from equator does not affect the result in this problem. But if you consider polar angle of the first point measured from pole and the polar angle of the second one from equator it will produce misleading solutions. So, you need to stabilish the same convention for both points.
The problem here is azimuth and polar angle aren't well-defined in the mathematics world. Azimuth would typically be given as the angle from North, and none of the angles given are that.
For people doing this problem for the first time, you should consider the given angles to be latitude and longitude.