🔍 Key Concepts

• Great circle vs. rhumb line (loxodrome) and when their paths differ most • Effect of latitude on the shape and length of great circle and rhumb line tracks • How direction of course (easterly, westerly, southerly) interacts with latitude for distance savings

💭 Think About

• On a Mercator chart, in which regions do great circles bend most away from straight rhumb lines? High or low latitudes? • For a given latitude band, which general course directions (east–west vs. north–south) gain the most from following a great circle? • Think about where the Earth’s curvature causes the biggest difference between a straight-line (great circle) and a constant‑bearing line (rhumb line).

✅ Before You Answer

• Identify which answer choices are in high latitudes versus low latitudes • Separate choices that are mainly east–west from those involving a large change in latitude (north–south component) • Recall that maximum distance saving occurs where the rhumb line deviates most from the true shortest path on a sphere