I'm embarrassed to say I still don't get it. When they first showed
two different photos, I thought, "two equations, two unknowns" but then
later there were a bunch of words and the sun going 'round the earth in
two circles almost touching and I got all messed up.
So let me tell you how I would solve it and then you can tell me, "Hey,
that's the same thing only different, yuh retard!" only out of
consideration for the gentility of the list, you can omit the "yuh
retard" bit.
Say you have a shadow angle A at 10 am and a shadow angle B at 1 pm.
So first you go to the standard line of longitude two hours east of
your standard line of longitude and lay the analemma on it and find the
subsolar point for the date. Then around the subsolar point you draw a
circle on the surface of the earth which is the locus of all points at
an angle A from the subsolar point as measured from the center of the
earth. That circle has all the places which have the first (10 am)
shadow length. Then you go to the standard line of longitude one hour
west of your standard line of longitude and do the same thing mutatis
mutandis for the 1 pm shadow angle.
So now you have two circles drawn on the surface of the earth and where
they intersect are the only two possible loci (relative to the standard
line of longitude) of the abode of him who done the dirty deed.
Is there an intuitive way to get from my earthbound way to solve it to
how they solved it on the show?
Thanks,
John Bercovitz
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