The area of rhumb polygons
arXiv:2303.03219 · doi:10.1007/s11200-024-0709-z
Abstract
The formula for the area of a rhumb polygon, a polygon whose edges are rhumb lines on an ellipsoid of revolution, is derived and a method is given for computing the area accurately. This paper also points out that standard methods for computing rhumb lines give inaccurate results for nearly east- or west-going lines; this problem is remedied by the systematic use of divided differences.
RevTex, 10 pages, 4 figures