Measure directions clockwise from north as three figures, find back bearings, and follow turns.
What you will learn
- Write and read three-figure bearings
- Find a back bearing
- Work out bearings after a turn
- Use east and north distances to find a bearing (Higher)
Three rules
A bearing is an angle:
- measured from north,
- clockwise,
- written with three figures and the degree sign (045°, not 45° or 045).
The compass points as bearings: north 000°, north-east 045°, east 090°, south-east 135°, south 180°, south-west 225°, west 270°, north-west 315°. A form such as N45°E is a different, compass-style way of writing directions; a three-figure bearing is always the angle clockwise from north.
To read a bearing from a diagram, measure (or read) the angle clockwise from the north line at the starting point. "The bearing of B from A" starts at A.
When a direction is given from another compass point, start from that point's bearing. "40° east of due north" is 000 + 40 = 040°. "35° west of due south" means start at south, 180°, and turn 35° towards west (clockwise), giving 180 + 35 = 215°. "20° south of due east" is 090 + 20 = 110°, and "15° north of due west" is 270 + 15 = 285°.
The rest of this lesson and its 7 practice questions are locked.
In this lesson
- Three rules
- The way back
- A bearing from distances east and north (Higher)
7 practice questions, marked as you go; about 25 minutes in all.
Key terms
North, Clockwise, Three figures
In this unit: Constructions, loci and bearings
Three-figure bearings, scale drawings and maps, ruler-and-compass constructions, and loci: sets of points that follow a rule.