Catenary Curves
Have you ever held a piece of string between your fingers, without holding it taut, and letting the string form a curve? Or seen a chain along a road?
The curve that it forms is known as a catenary, which is the curve that an idealised hanging chain or cable assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends. It has a U-like shape, superficially similar in appearance to a parabola, but it is not a parabola.
Catenaries and related curves are used in architecture and engineering, in the design of bridges and arches, so that forces do not result in bending moments
Mathematically, the catenary curve is the graph of the hyperbolic cosine function, hence it is also known as a cosh curve:
Most suspension bridge cables follow a parabolic rather a catenary curve, due to the weight of the roadway being much greater than that of the cable.
Reference: Wikipedia
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1. Go to the posted co-ordinates (WP1). You will see a power line strung across the valley, which is a good example of a catenary.
2. Go to the nearby transmission tower (WP2). On the inside, facing into the centre of the tower, you will see some handprints (ignore the indistinct one underneath). The number of handprints is a.
3. Continue on to the next waypoint (WP3). Here you will see the same power line; the curve on the section back towards WP2 is closer to the horizontal, but is still a catenary. There is a set of high voltage electricity lines that look like telephone cables crossing the valley near-perpendicularly to the power line. On its pole there are 2 sets of numbers. The black-on-yellow set of numbers are bcde and the numbers on the tag fghij.
The container is at:
S 33 43.(j)(a+g)(f+g) E 151 03.(h)(g-f)(g+i)
You can check your answers for this puzzle on
GeoChecker.com.