Like the title says. I’m trying to explain triangulation to my actual five year old, but don’t really understand it myself. Help!
In: Earth Science
Here’s a really simple way to do it.
Get a piece of paper and draw one circle. In the center is a cell phone tower. That cell phone tower picked up your signal (that’s the circle). The problem is that it doesn’t know what direction you are.
Now draw another circle that somewhat overlaps your previous circle. The second circle is another cell phone tower that picked up your signal.
You will have two points that cross. Between the two towers they can say that you’re in one of two places.
Finally, draw yet another circle that goes through one of those two points. The center of the third circle is ANOTHER cell tower that detects your phone signal.
The intersection is where you are. It is called “triangulation” because it needs 3 sources to confirm an accurate location.
Edit: what I described is TECHNICALLY trilateration. HT: /u/n21brown
Triangulation is a method for determining a position that is dependent upon the distance between the two measuring devices and the angle between the two points and the object. Effectively you then use maths to solves the triangle.
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