tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Dec 16 10:13:47 1994
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Re: Can't get there from here (Was Re: negative angle)
Okay, guys, I know this is off topic, but this is how the three-dimensional
navigation works, at least in Star Trek:
"122 24 mark 12" is not a valid reference. There are only *two* numbers, one on
either side of the "mark", and they refer to angles. "122 mark 12", for
instance, could refer to a course heading or to a relative bearing; in either
case, it specifies a direction, not a point. If it is a relative bearing,
then it refers to a direction toward the aft and starboard (behind you
and to the right if you're facing the front of the ship), a little above
the horizontal. If it's a course heading, then it refers to a course away
from the center of the galaxy and rising within the galactic plane.
The first angle is like a compass reference, limited to the horizontal
plane; the second angle is adjustment above or below that plane (astronomers,
think azimuth and elevation; mathematicians, think theta and phi in spherical
co-ordinates). For absolute courses, '0 mark 0' is toward the center of the
galaxy (which means, by the way, that any other course is not a straight
line but a curve over a significant galactic distance); for relative bearings,
'0 mark 0' is the way the ship is facing.
[Footnote: According to the ST:TNG Technical Manual, negative elevations are
transformed into positive elevations mod 360 instead, so that 45 degrees below
the horizontal is "mark 315" instead of "mark -45"; of course this is just
standard Fed practice and changes nothing. Note that numbers between 90
and 270 will never appear after the "mark" in this system]
To specify a point, you give the bearing as above and a distance to the point
along that direction. E.g. "They're at 045 mark 23, distance 500 kellicams".
None of this helps translate "taH"'s meaning of "to be at a negative angle".
One could suppose that it refers to the elevation (which is the only
angle that could be negative, and then only if you don't adopt the Fed
convention) and therefore refers to something that is below you (relative
to your local sense of up and down at the time, of course), and maybe
having a simple word for such a scenario is convenient in a combat situation,
but that's all just speculation.
-marqoS
--
Mark J. Reed
Email: [email protected] - Voice: +1 404 315 6296 x158 - Fax: +1 404 315 0293
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