NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: suggestion for a satisfactory celnav narrative
From: Jim Thompson
Date: 2005 May 31, 17:06 -0300
From: Jim Thompson
Date: 2005 May 31, 17:06 -0300
Courtney -- I have been trying something like this (I think) at: http://jimthompson.net/boating/CelestialNav/CelestNotes/IntroCN.htm If any of that is useful to your project, then let me know. Jim Thompson jim3 at jimthompson dot net www.jimthompson.net -------------------- Outgoing email scanned by Norton Antivirus > -----Original Message----- > From: Courtney Thomas > As one who has struggled with a plethora of publications that purport to > convey the celnav gospel, I'd like to suggest a group project of > composing a "minimal" narrative of the essentials of celestial > navigation that would at least do the following, though additions are > welcomed as the group sees fit, of course, as I'm sure I'm not even > sufficiently proficient to provide a satisfactory outline, and therefore > only hope to induce the competent to collaborate: > > Also assuming Godelian proficiency unnecessary :-) and hoping an > included bibliography will gratify those whose requirements are > unsatisfied by the final group consensus, as well as those merely more > curious, I submit the following as starting suggestions: > > 1-a summary narrative - to fully setout a statement of the problem and > it's currently regarded state of the art solution, omitting all math and > drawings. This might, for example, omit considerations such as sextants > and their use, historical considerations, etc., i.e. adhere only to a > conceptual basis, ignoring the procedural, hence avoiding the conflation > and inflation of other authors. > > 2-definitions - only that necessary to familiarize a novice > with the terminology > > 3-math & science axioms & drawings - the plane geometry, trigonometry, > astronomy, physics, etc. deemed indispensible, with a suitable > bibliography > > 4-a summary outline - sort of a table of contents writ large, setting > out a celnav process > > 5-for each section in #4, a brief narrative of motivation to textually > succeed each topic - [To maintain reader clarity, for example, for a > section on, say, the intercept method, to describe HOW it fits into the > overall scheme and WHY it is valid.] > > 6-a summary with example(s) - a final assembly... embodying the initial > summary, described in #1, but utilizing the actual nuts&bolts contained > in #s 2 & 3, with nothing more included > > [Goal Statement: to layout a minimal, though complete, celnav procedure > for a novice without omitting unity, while avoiding concision that > leaves confusion and wonderment.] > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Please leave me out of any debate on the desirability and feasibility. > If you think it undesirable or infeasible, ignore this suggestion, else > I thank you for your contribution to it's realization, as will all those > who follow. > > Courtney Thomas > >