[Edu-sig] Calculating area of a surface plane on a spherical body.

[Jonathan Pennington]

* agauld@crosswinds.net <agauld@crosswinds.net> [010919 18:26]:
> My maths are rusty but how can you calculate the surface area 
> of a plane? There are no boundaries to a plane the surface is 
> always infinite? Or am I missing some vital bit of definition 
> somewhere?

I'm defining the plane with coordinate data from maps and/or GPS
recievers. The spherical body is the geode (idealized earth). However,
calculating a boundless plane on a spherical body will not be
infinite, but will be the surface area of the sphere itself. In that
respect, it's not actually a plane in the traditional sense though.

-J
-- 
Jonathan Pennington	|	john@coastalgeology.org

	 "It's hard to take life too seriously
	    when you realize yours is a joke." -me