Talk:Trigonometry/For Enthusiasts/The Distance from New York to Tokyo

Is this section appropriate for Book 1? It presumably requires either spherical trigonometry or vectors, which are both beyond the scope of Book 1.--Wisden (discuss • contribs) 13:35, 24 March 2011 (UTC)
 * It will be broken down into stages, first computing straight line distance, then follow up with conversion of a chord distance to an arc length. I agree the first part is just thinly disguised vector addition and vector length, but we are already preparing the ground for 'Pythagoras in 3D' on the Pythagoras Theorem page, so the vector length aspect is within scope.  It is nicer to have vector notation to do the calculations, but I see value in showing the trig knowledge can already do this 'barehanded' - before vectors have been introduced.  It is a valid concern.  What will make or break it is the diagrams showing the steps.  If they are too hard to understand then that will push this to a later book.  I hope they don't.  JamesCrook (discuss • contribs) 15:31, 1 April 2011 (UTC)