MEP Jamaica: STRAND I UNIT 32 Angles, Circles and Tangents: Teaching Notes
UNIT 32 Angles, Circles and Tangents Teaching Notes
Introduction
Angle geometry is introduced in Unit 31 and is extended in this unit to working with circles and
tangents. Another aspect is introduced - the concept of compass bearings for specifying direction.
This topic has its own history.
It is thought that the Chinese knew about the 'magical' magnetic properties of the iron mineral ore
called lodestone (or loadstone) as early as 2634 BC.
At that time they had no idea that while the iron ore was still hot volcanic magma, its atoms had
aligned with the earth's magnetic field and, as it cooled back to rock, it became magnetised.
The ancient Greeks also knew about the weak attraction lodestone had to tin but the compass's first
actual use to get bearings at sea, is placed closer to around 300 AD. Chinese sailors were reported to
be using it around 1100 AD. Arabian merchants had started using it by 1220 AD and the Scandinavian
Vikings by 1250 AD. Marco Polo brought Europe's first compass back from the Chinese city of
Cathay at the close of the 1200s.
In the early days of the compass, it was only a small piece of rock ore, strapped to a small floating
piece of wood. It could even be hung by a thread.
The early navigators found the magnetic compass useful because it was very easy to use, it made
steering a ship much more accurate and it could even be used when the skies were cloudy, when the
more accurate method of navigating by the stars was not possible.
In all the past centuries of adventure, when men of courage sailed strange and dangerous seas and
blazed trails across wild unsettled continents, the direction of north was their one and only fixed point
on the globe.
In the earliest charts, north is indicated by a spearhead above the letter
T (for tramontana, a northerly wind). This 3-pointed symbol came to
stand for the north. It was first seen on Portuguese maps around the
time of Columbus (15th century).
Spearhead (or fleur-de-lys)
figure indicating north
With slight changes, the symbol was adopted as the emblem of the
Scouting movement in the early 20th century.
Scouting emblem
In the 14th century, the east side of the rose was indicated with a cross,
indicating the direction to Paradise (thought to be in the east), or at least
to where Christ was born (in the Levant, Eastern Mediterranean).
Before the magnetic compass was discovered, early map makers would
draw a small 16-pointed circle on the map indicating the 4 cardinal
points and the intervening points. The 32 points of the compass rose
come from the directions of the eight major winds, the eight half-winds 14th century
and the sixteen quarter-winds. compass rose
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MEP Jamaica: STRAND I UNIT 32 Angles, Circles and Tangents: Teaching Notes
UNIT 32 Angles, Circles and Tangents Teaching Notes
The points (or bearings) shown are
N, NNE, NE, ENE, E, ESE, SE, SSE, S, SSW, SW, WSW, W, WNW, NW, NNW, N
N (north), S (south) , E (east) and W (west) are the 4 cardinal points (or principal points).
When the magnetic compass came into use, it was just set on top of the wind rose pattern in order to
help face the sea chart in the proper direction.
There is no absolute standard for drafting a compass rose, and each school of cartographers seems to
have developed their own.
The colours on the figure are supposedly the result of the need for graphic clarity rather than a mere
cartographical whim. On a rolling ship at night by the light of a flickering lamp, these figures had to
be clearly visible. Therefore the eight principle points of the compass are usually shown on the
compass rose in black which stands out easily. Against this background, the points representing the
half-winds are typically coloured in blue or green and since the quarter-wind points are the smallest,
they are usually coloured red.
This was the extent of the accuracy of an old Mariner's Compass and, by today's standards, it was not
at all accurate. However, as global spherical mathematics improved, it became more customary to give
bearings in units of 'degrees' from geographic north. In the 1920s it became an accepted worldwide
practice to indicate direction or bearing by a single 3-digit number (0 to 360) representing degrees of a
circle as measured clockwise from true north.
Teaching Points
These are covered in the Teaching Notes for Unit 31.
Language / Notation
• circle, radius, diameter, sector and tangent
• bearings
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MEP Jamaica: STRAND I UNIT 32 Angles, Circles and Tangents: Teaching Notes
UNIT 32 Angles, Circles and Tangents Teaching Notes
Key Points
• In finding bearings, say A from B, you must find the angle, N N
measured from the north (N) in a clockwise direction (see
diagram). A
B
• The angle subtended at the circumference of a circle by B
a diameter is a right angle. A
• The angles subtended at the circumference on the same side of a circle by a chord are equal.
• The angle subtended at the centre of a circle by an arc is twice the angle subtended at a point on
the circumference.
• Opposite angles of a cyclic quadrilateral sum to 180° .
• The angle subtended between a tangent and a chord equals any angle on the circumference
subtended by the chord (alternate segment theorem).
• For the circle,
A D
AX × CX = BX × DX
X
B C
• For the circle,
BP 2 = AP × CP A C
P
B
Misconceptions
• Not recognising that all bearings are three-figure numbers.
• Not realising that bearings are measured in a clockwise direction, from north.
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