The formula below will calculate a distance in miles between 2 points in excel. Can some put it to work in unix?

Lat = 43.335
Lon1 = -70.9884

Lat2 = 43.4829
Lon2 = -71.246

distance =3444*ACOS(COS(RADIANS(90-(Lat)))*COS(RADIANS(90-(Lat2)))+SIN(RADIANS(90-(Lat1)))*SIN(RADIANS(90-(Lat2)))*COS(RADIANS((Lon1-Lon2))))

distance = 14.3376283 miles

I don't quite understand.

2 points in excel and the distance is in miles ... surprising

not 2 points in excel. It's 2 points at different locations in a city. The result was done in excel spreadsheet.

Take a look at >bc -l
They should all be defined as sine, cosine, arctan respectively

I will have to think more about radians.

And to the other question... latitude and longitude on a map. Math can determine the miles between points; complicated by the earth's curvature.

HOME has a utility called gcb which you can download and install. It's probably more exact than your Excel formula, although the web page design (or lack of same) hints that usability might be nearly as bad as Excel.

If you're on Debian or Ubuntu, aptitude install gcb

A quick detour via Google seems to suggest that the constant in the Excel formula is wrong, or at least debatable, it should be something like 3963 for miles, or 6378.8 for kilometers. Another source has 3959.98 for miles or 6372.797 for kilometers. Apparently, it (also) depends on how far from the equator you are.

See also Unit 014 - Latitude and Longitude

This formula will yield the distance between 2 coordinates.
Can this be done in UNIX?? Anyone knows how???

Lat1 = 43.335
Lon1 = -70.9884

Lat2 = 43.4829
Lon2 = -71.246

distance =3444*ACOS(COS(RADIANS(90-(Lat1)))*COS(RADIANS(90-(Lat2)))+SIN(RADIANS(90-(Lat1)))*SIN(RADIANS(90-(Lat2)))*COS(RADIANS((Lon1-Lon2))))

distance = 14.3376283 miles