dead reckoning - Dictionary definition and pronunciation - Yahoo! Education
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Definition of dead reckoning

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dead reckoning

NOUN:
  1. A method of estimating the position of an aircraft or a ship without astronomical observations, as by applying to a previously determined position the course and distance traveled since.
  2. Predictive calculation based on inference; guesswork.
ETYMOLOGY:
Possibly alteration of ded., abbr. of deduced, from deduce, to trace from the beginning ; see deduce


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