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
Imagine that you are a spot on a map. You can hear a signal, but can’t determine where it’s coming from. But you can figure out how far away it is by how strong the signal is. So, you draw a circle around your position at that distance. You just don’t know in what direction the signal is coming from.
So now you ask someone else in a different location if they can hear the signal. They can also hear the signal, but also cannot tell which direction. Just strength/distance. So draw a circle around their point on the map as well. Now, look at the 2 circles around your position and their position to try and find where the circles overlap to find the location of the source. The problem is that the distances are going to overlap in TWO locations. So, the source could be in either of the two locations. How do we find out which one?
Find a third person. Ask them. Draw another circle. The source will be where the 3 circles overlap. You’ve now triangulated the source.
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