NavList:

Given that my efforts at Celestial Navigation are limited to, and unlikely to progress beyond standing on the beach, when I can get there, shooting whatever happens to be in view, day time and or evenings, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference, however I learned to do sight reduction using the NA Daily Pages and the Law of Cosines, which strike me as a simple to use, direct, straight forward approach to sight reduction.

Lately, I have begun to delve into use of the NA Concise Tables, a Power Squadron Nav course I'm taking requires reduction of sextant sights by both methods. I understand that the Concise Tables Method are supposedly simpler, easier to use.

Perhaps they are, doing the Law of Cosines absent a calculator, using log tables would be tedious as hell, however as to the Concise Tables being "simpler/easier to use", I beg to differ, for it seems that the Concise Tables involve endless messing about with and or the massaging of numbers, which one doesn't have to do using the Law of Cosines. Of course, I might be missing a salient point perhaps more than one here, for instance what happens if one's calculator craps out. Of course, with the Concise Tables, one would be out of luck if they lost their NA over the side. Seriously though, is there something basic or obvious here that escapes me?

In appreciation of any input or clarification offered.

Alan

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