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> If I get a 'toward' twice as frequently as an 'away' because of a
> measuring bias on my part, [...] I will be within the cocked hat
> 33% of time.

> Thus, a skillful navigator will actually be within his cocked hat less
> often than an unskilled navigator.  I may be on the verge of finding the
> root cause of my all too frequent success.

All correct given that the sights are spread around more than 180 deg
of azimuth. But what happens when the sights are all taken from, say,
the western half of the sky? Now, our poor navigator will be in the
hat only 2/9 of the time. This is why you want a good spread of azimuths
in your sights. If there are systemic errors, then with a good spread
there is a good chance they will somewhat "cancel" and the center of
the derived hat will, on the average, be closer to your real position.



--
        Mike Wescott
        Wescott_Mike@EMC.COM

   

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