ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Versine and haversine

Hey kiddo! Have you ever heard of the two words 'versine' and 'haversine'? They are actually math terms used to solve problems related to circles!

Imagine drawing a circle on a paper, with a point in the middle. Let's call that point the center of the circle. Now, if we draw a line from the center to the edge of the circle, that line is called the radius. The radius helps us measure how big or small the circle is.

Okay, now let's say we want to figure out the distance between two points on the edge of the circle. We can use the length of those lines to figure it out! But there is a problem: the distance between those points will not be a straight line, it will be curved like the edge of the circle.

So, here's where the versine and haversine come in! They are formulas that help us measure the distance between two points on the edge of a circle (which scientists call the arc).

The haversine formula is used to find the distance between two points on the surface of a sphere (like Earth).

The versine formula is used to find the vertical distance between the midpoint of the arc and the midpoint of the chord of a circle.

Don't worry if it sounds a little confusing, even grown-ups sometimes struggle with math! Just know that versine and haversine formulas are used to solve problems related to circles and measuring their distances.