How do I set up this problem.

Converting the angle 35' 58' 33' to decimal degrees

Question

How do I set up this problem.

Converting the angle  35' 58' 33' to decimal degrees

anonymous · Answer

divide

anonymous · Answer

get a calculator then press this sign$$,,,,$$

imstuck · Answer

or you could do it the way your teacher wants you to do it by converting using the conversions from minutes and seconds to degrees.

phi · Answer

do you mean
35º 58' 33"
?

phi · Answer

there are 60 seconds  in one minute
change 33"  (33 seconds) to a fraction of a minute
can you do that ?

anonymous · Answer

Yes

phi · Answer

what do you get ?

anonymous · Answer

$$\frac{ 33 }{ 60 }$$ ?

phi · Answer

here is an example:  30 seconds is  30/60 = ½ of a minute

yes 33/60

now change to a decimal.

anonymous · Answer

.55

phi · Answer

it's easy with a calculator

also, if you practice with numbers, you would know both the top and bottom can be divided by 3, to get
11/20

and if you multiply top and bottom by 5 you get
55/100
and that is easy to change to a decimal. (divide by 100 means move the decimal point t places to the left)

anonymous · Answer

I'm a bit lost now

phi · Answer

we know 38" = 0.55'   (33 seconds is the same as 0.55 minutes)

35º 58' 33"
is the same as
35º  58' + 0.55'  
or
35º  58.55'

now change 58.55' to a fraction of a degree  (divide by 60)

phi · Answer

change minutes to degrees by dividing by 60
(there are 60 minutes in 1 degree)

if you had  30 minutes, then you have 30/60  degrees = ½ degree = 0.5 degree

if you have 58.55 minutes, then you have 58.55/60 degrees

anonymous · Answer

I get  .96 is that right ?

phi · Answer

it's (almost) the same thing as working with time.  30 minutes is ½ of an hour
58.55 minutes is practically a whole hour.  It would be 58.55/60  ths of an hour

58.55/60= 0.9758333...
(the 3 repeats)

unless they say how accurate the answer should be, put all of the decimals in

now you have
35º + 0.9758333º =  35.97583...º

phi · Answer

the idea is to do it step by step:
change the seconds to minutes  and add that fraction to the minutes

then change *those* minutes  to degrees, and add that to the whole degrees

you get degrees as a decimal number.

phi · Answer

*** I get  .96 is that right ?  ***

that is not quite correct.  How did you get it ?

anonymous · Answer

@phi thank you :)