DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15#0091
THE PROBLEM OF THE PYRAMIDS. 81
(when the sun rises almost exactly in the east, and
sets almost exactly in the west) is two-thirds of
the way from the horizon to the point overhead.
In an observatory set exactly in this position,
some of the calculations or geometrical construc-
tions (as the case may be) involved in astronomical
problems are considerably simplified. The first
problem in Euclid, for example, by which a tri-
angle of three equal sides is made, affords the
means of drawing the proper angle at which the
mid-day sun in spring or autumn is raised above
the horizon, and at which the pole of the heavens
is removed from the point overhead. Relations
depending on this angle are also more readily
calculated, for the very same reason, in fact, that
the angle itself is more readily drawn. And
though the builders of the Great Pyramid must
have been advanced far beyond the stage at which
any difficulty in dealing directly with other angles
would be involved, yet they would perceive the
great advantage of having one among the angles
entering into their problems thus conveniently
chosen. In our time, when by the use of logarith-
mic and other tables, all calculations are greatly
simplified, and when also astronomers have learned
to recognise that no possible choice of latitude
would simplify their labours (unless an observatory
. G
(when the sun rises almost exactly in the east, and
sets almost exactly in the west) is two-thirds of
the way from the horizon to the point overhead.
In an observatory set exactly in this position,
some of the calculations or geometrical construc-
tions (as the case may be) involved in astronomical
problems are considerably simplified. The first
problem in Euclid, for example, by which a tri-
angle of three equal sides is made, affords the
means of drawing the proper angle at which the
mid-day sun in spring or autumn is raised above
the horizon, and at which the pole of the heavens
is removed from the point overhead. Relations
depending on this angle are also more readily
calculated, for the very same reason, in fact, that
the angle itself is more readily drawn. And
though the builders of the Great Pyramid must
have been advanced far beyond the stage at which
any difficulty in dealing directly with other angles
would be involved, yet they would perceive the
great advantage of having one among the angles
entering into their problems thus conveniently
chosen. In our time, when by the use of logarith-
mic and other tables, all calculations are greatly
simplified, and when also astronomers have learned
to recognise that no possible choice of latitude
would simplify their labours (unless an observatory
. G