THE NAUTICAL ALMANACS FAULTY CALCULATOR INSTRUCTIONS

The calculator instructions published in the Nautical Almanac since I9 89 are impractical. The sextant corrections should include a passage c orrection and exclude semi-diameter; the celestial triangle solution i s clumsy and not sufficiently comprehensive; the specified computation of a position line is a radical departure from standard method and wi ll not work; the computation of the fix omits error assessment, and th e directions for 'iterating' the fix are eccentric and superfluous. Th e instructions should be re-written to conform with the practice of ce lestial navigation or deleted from the Almanac.