great_circle class

great_circle

The great_circle class defines a circle or line on a sphere. It has a direction_cosine instance, the direction of the pole, which characterizes the great_circle.

Constructors

great_circle(const direction_cosine& p)

Create a great_circle instance with the pole of p.

p

a direction_cosine instance, the pole direction.

great_circle(const double l, const double m, const double n)

Create a great_circle instance with the pole (l,m,n).

l

l-element of the pole direction.

m

m-element of the pole direction.

n

n-element of the pole direction.

great_circle(const longitude& lon, const latitude& lat)

Create a great_circle instance with the pole (lon, lat).

lon

the longitude of the pole direction.

lat

the latitude of the pole direction.

Functions

const double
separation_cosine(const great_circle& gc) const

Obtain cosθ, where θ is the separation angle between another great_circle instance.

gc

another great_circle instance.

const angle
separation(const great_circle& gc) const

Obtain θ, where θ is the separation angle between another great_circle instance.

gc

another great_circle instance.

const double
separation_cosine(const direction_cosine& p) const

Obtain cosθ, where θ is the separation angle between the point p and the foot of the perpendicular from p to this instance.

p

a direction_cosine instance.

const angle
separation(const direction_cosine& p) const

Obtain θ, where θ is the separation angle between the point p and the foot of the perpendicular from p to this instance..

p

a direction_cosine instance.

const direction_cosine
foot_of(const direction_cosine& p) const

Obtain the foot of the perpendicular from p to this instance.

p

a direction_cosine instance.

Caution

When p is identical to the pole, the foot cannot be specified. This function, however, does not throw an exception. Instead, it returns the foot from either (1,0,0) or (0,1,0).

void
print(const size_t N=64) const

List the points on the circle in stdout.

N

the number of vertices to be listed.

Attributes

pole

(direction_cosine) the pole of the great circle.