NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Perpendicularity and other qstns.
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2004 Oct 13, 20:05 EDT
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2004 Oct 13, 20:05 EDT
Herbert Prinz wrote:
"This was in direct response to Alexandre's false claim that every sextant
suffered from this problem.
Alexandre has actually stated that he has a mathematical demonstration
for this claim and offered to divulge it."
I think it's clear that Alex simply jumped too quickly to a conclusion --and not out of malice but out of sheer enthusiasm for the subject. I'm reminded of a famous navigator who believed that he had found an error in his table of logarithms, and that this was something that he "could prove beyond a doubt". It happens to everyone. We make little errors and find ways to justify them. And there's nothing "ivory tower" about it!
Some words to live by:
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard Feynman.
Frank R
[ ] Mystic, Connecticut
[X] Chicago, Illinois
"This was in direct response to Alexandre's false claim that every sextant
suffered from this problem.
Alexandre has actually stated that he has a mathematical demonstration
for this claim and offered to divulge it."
I think it's clear that Alex simply jumped too quickly to a conclusion --and not out of malice but out of sheer enthusiasm for the subject. I'm reminded of a famous navigator who believed that he had found an error in his table of logarithms, and that this was something that he "could prove beyond a doubt". It happens to everyone. We make little errors and find ways to justify them. And there's nothing "ivory tower" about it!
Some words to live by:
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard Feynman.
Frank R
[ ] Mystic, Connecticut
[X] Chicago, Illinois