Navigation Memes

Posts tagged with Navigation

The Angle Of Depression
Physics Math Science Psychology
21 hours ago 3.0K views 0 shares
The Angle Of Depression
Behold the perfect fusion of physics and mental health! In navigation, the "angle of depression" is the downward angle from horizontal when viewing something below you. But here, it's brilliantly repurposed as the existential outlook of a scientist/student staring into the abyss of... well, everything. That downward-sloping line isn't just measuring elevation—it's measuring life satisfaction! This is what happens when you understand enough physics to measure precisely how bleak things are. Next time someone asks about your worldview, just whip out a protractor and say "approximately 45 degrees below horizontal."

Islamic Golden Age For The Win
Math Science Astronomy
14 days ago 5.2K views 0 shares
Islamic Golden Age For The Win
Necessity really is the mother of invention. While Europeans were busy deciding if bathing was a sin, Muslim scholars were casually inventing spherical trigonometry just to figure out which way to pray. Talk about motivation! The entire foundation of modern mathematics—algebra, algorithms, decimal system—all because someone needed to know the precise direction of Mecca from anywhere on our spherical planet. Next time your GPS reroutes you, thank a medieval Muslim mathematician who was just trying to perform their religious duties correctly. That's what I call practical problem-solving.

When Your "Straight Line" Depends On Dimension
Earth-science Science Oceanography
1 month ago 3.4K views 0 shares
When Your "Straight Line" Depends On Dimension
The meme beautifully captures the collision between map projections and spatial reasoning! The original tweet claims you can sail from India to the USA in a "straight line" without touching land, showing a curved path on a flat map. But here's the mind-bender: that curved line is actually geodesically straight in 3D space! When sailing across a spherical Earth, the shortest path (a "straight line" in navigation terms) follows what's called a great circle. On flat Mercator projections, these great circles appear curved because... well, you're squishing a sphere onto a rectangle! The commenters missing this concept is pure comedy gold. It's like watching someone argue that the Earth is flat while standing on a globe!