Appendix 1: Student take home

Suppose that you are tasked with navigating a ship that is to travel from a point in Europe to the “New World” recently discovered across the Atlantic Ocean. How would you navigate the vessel using only 16^th century technology? Most mariners during the age of discovery steered their ships along lines of constant bearing using a magnetic compass. A path of constant bearing on the globe is called a “rhumb” line named for the Spanish rumbo meaning “way” or “direction”. This concept of a path of constant bearing was later named a loxodrome from the Latin loxos signifying “slant” and drome signifying “running”. So, most mariners of the 16^th century travelled paths across the ocean that we know call loxodromes.