find the greatcircle distance between A latitude 5991 north

find the great-circle distance between A (latitude 59.91 north, longitude 30.43 east) and B (latitude 45 north, longitude 7.4 east).

Solution

Using the haversine formula, we find haversin(central angle between the two points) = haversin(long₁-long₂)+cos(long₁)*cos(long₂)*haversin(lat₁ - lat₂) = haversin(30.43-7.4) + cos(30.43)cos(7.4)haversin(59.91-45) = .0542.

So the central angle is haversin^-1(.0452) = 26.9363^o, so the great-circle distance is then 2r*26.9363^o/360^o = 3956.6 miles * .4701 = 1860 miles.