Near the equator the separate loxodromes are nearly right lines.
Since a loxodrome is not a great circle, it follows that by tracking a loxodrome a longer distance must be traveled compared to a great circle line.
How Mercator did this is as follows: the meridians and parallels must be arranged so that the loxodromes cut the meridians at constant angles.
This is the second Mercator chart showing Lindbergh's route as a series of 500 mile-long loxodromes approximating the great circle route from New York to Paris.
The map is drawn on Mercator's projection with loxodromes.
The ring of mass traces out the full path of the loxodrome from one pole to the other pole and back.
For the first time, sea captains had maps showing loxodromes as straight lines.
All other loxodromes, e.g. the direction NW, trace spiral paths that converge on either the north or south pole.
The problem of calculating loxodromes is exactly the problem of the fundamental theorem of calculus.
In fact, if the birds were to follow loxodromes, maintaining fixed geographic courses, the vast majority would migrate towards Greenland.
It is an interesting exercise to compare loxodromes on a Mercator map with courses on a globe with the same end points.
The Mercator projection was developed especially for navigators, and presents straight lines as loxodromes.
The obscure concepts of the rhumb line, the loxodrome, and spherical trigonometry were also beyond their grasp.
Derivatives
loxodromic
adjective
In geometry, Coxeter's loxodromic sequence of tangent circles is an infinite sequence of circles arranged such that any four consecutive circles in the sequence are pairwise mutually tangent.
Example sentencesExamples
In loxodromic navigation two characteristic problems are encountered when calculating the necessary navigational parameters.
Definition of loxodrome in US English:
loxodrome
nounˈläksəˌdrōm
another term for rhumb (sense 1)
Example sentencesExamples
Near the equator the separate loxodromes are nearly right lines.
The map is drawn on Mercator's projection with loxodromes.
The Mercator projection was developed especially for navigators, and presents straight lines as loxodromes.
How Mercator did this is as follows: the meridians and parallels must be arranged so that the loxodromes cut the meridians at constant angles.
The obscure concepts of the rhumb line, the loxodrome, and spherical trigonometry were also beyond their grasp.
Since a loxodrome is not a great circle, it follows that by tracking a loxodrome a longer distance must be traveled compared to a great circle line.
The ring of mass traces out the full path of the loxodrome from one pole to the other pole and back.
All other loxodromes, e.g. the direction NW, trace spiral paths that converge on either the north or south pole.
In fact, if the birds were to follow loxodromes, maintaining fixed geographic courses, the vast majority would migrate towards Greenland.
It is an interesting exercise to compare loxodromes on a Mercator map with courses on a globe with the same end points.
This is the second Mercator chart showing Lindbergh's route as a series of 500 mile-long loxodromes approximating the great circle route from New York to Paris.
For the first time, sea captains had maps showing loxodromes as straight lines.
The problem of calculating loxodromes is exactly the problem of the fundamental theorem of calculus.