Lost Somewhere at Sea
Congratulations! You just bought a brand new boat, and are planning on taking it on a two day fishing trip. You embark on your journey, and the first day goes great. However, while you are sleeping that night, a storm arises and carries your boat far away. You wake up and do not know where you are. You do however know three helpful pieces of information:
- It is December 21st
- The sun is directly over you
- Your reliable watch set to England time shows precisely PM.
Determine your latitude and longitude. Enter your answer as the sum of your latitude north and longitude east (for example, if your answer were degrees North and degrees West, your answer would be ) [round your answer to the nearest integer].
The answer is -121.
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Each hour is 1 5 degrees longitude (meaning that you travel 1 5 degrees in every hour). If you go to the east, the time gets later. If you go to the west, the time gets earlier. England is at 0 degrees longitude. Therefore, because it is 6 : 3 0 in England, but noon where you are, that means that you are 6 . 5 × 1 5 = 9 7 . 5 degrees west of England, and so your longitude is 9 7 . 5 degrees West.
It is December 21st (the winter solstice), but the sun is directly above you. The only place that this can happen on the winter solstice is on the Tropic of Capricorn, which is around 2 3 . 4 4 degrees South.
Your position is 2 3 . 4 4 degrees latitude South, 9 7 . 5 degrees longitude West. This is equivalent to − 2 3 . 4 4 degrees latitude North, − 9 7 . 5 degrees longitude East. − 2 3 . 4 4 − 9 7 . 5 = − 1 2 0 . 9 4 , and this rounds to − 1 2 1 .