1. Great Circle

Hi,

Can anyone please tell me the equation of a great circle on the sphere in radius 1 in $\mathbb{R}^3$ in terms of sines and cosines?

Thanks.

2. Originally Posted by Swlabr
Hi,

Can anyone please tell me the equation of a great circle on the sphere in radius 1 in $\mathbb{R}^3$ in terms of sines and cosines?

Thanks.
Any "equation" for a geometric figure depends on how you set up the coordinates system so I am going to assume your sphere is at the origin of the coordinate system.

Any great circle? Okay, assume the great circle makes angle $\phi$ with the xy-plane and that the line between the two intersections with the xy-plane makes angle $\psi$ with the x-axis. Let $\theta$ be the angle a line from the center of the sphere (the origin) to intersection of the sphere with the xy-plane (the circle with $\phi= 0$) The points on that circle are given by $x= cos(\theta)$, $y= sin(\theta)$, and z= 0. Now we can just "rotate" that to angle $\phi$. z= r sin(\phi)[/tex] where r is $ysin(\psi)= sin(\psi)sin(\theta)$: $z= sin(\theta)sin(\psi)sin(\phi)$ so that the parametric equations for the circle at fixed angle $\phi$ with the xy-plane and fixed angle $\psi$ with the x-axis, with parameter $\theta$ are
$x= cos(\theta)$, $y= sin(\theta)$, $z= sin(\theta)sin(\psi)sin(\phi)$.