How to calculate the distance using only numeric latitude and longtitude?

Question

I got the data logger and it does not have the program that can make the report of the distance between each point so I export the CSV file and open it in excel.However, I have search about how to calculate the distance and got the formula.Then I use it with my data ;however, the result does not quite make sense to me.
I am not sure that I use the right formula or not? If not what is the right one?
What the unit of the distance ? (km,m or miles)

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Please write the formula in the excel format so that I can understand how the calculation works. For example, the first record and the second record as the example.

Answer 1

You seem to have a bit of a mix-up in the formula.
The formula you have should be

= degrees(ACOS( sin(RADIANS(Latitude1))
sin(radians(latitude2))
+cos(radians(latitude1))
cos((radians(latitude2))
cos(radians(diff in longitude))))
* 60

This will give you the shortest distance in Nautical miles (nmiles) between two places on the Earth's surface.
You need to remember if places are South latitude, the latitude needs to be entered as a negative number.

The ACOS bit of the formula gives you the angle made at the centre of the Earth by the Great Circle passing through the given points.

The *60 bit converts this angle to a distance in nmiles.

If you want the distance in km multiply the angle by
2*pi*6371 / 360

ie Distance in km
=DEGREES(ACOS( sin(RADIANS(Latitude1))
sin(radians(latitude2))
+cos(radians(latitude1))
cos((radians(latitude2))
cos(radians(diff in longitude))))
* 2* pi* 6371 / 360


I've broken the formulae up because otherwise they don't all show.
So they are all on one line.

Also check your latitude and longitude.
These should be in degrees.
Latitude should be a number between 0 and 90 fro latitudes North.
Between 0 and -90 for latitudes South.
Longitude should be between 0 and 180.

I'm not sure if ACOS in Excel is in degrees or radians.
So check this.

I've just looked at Excel and it assumes angles are in radians - so put RADIANS( ) before each angle. And degrees before ACOS. As above now.

Answer 2

What are you using for Latitude and Longitude?? Those numbers look ridiculous. Radians should be a small number and degrees are numbers like 34.2345 in decimal form.
Basically you should be dividing the degrees by 360 and multiplying by 2*Pi() to get radians or have radians in the first place. Distances NS stay the same (are those distances from some place, then you have to fractionalize them to use with COS & SIN in excel) any place on earth (about 69.17 miles, 111.3 km) while degrees east and west get shorter as you approach the poles, so you take the difference in longitude (EW) and multiply times the COS of the latitude in radians and take that times the size of a degree at the equator. For small distances, you then can do the Pythagrian equation H = sqrt( S1^2 + S2^2) (the hypotenuse is the square root of the sum of the squares of the sides of a right triangle.)
For longer distance you have to do spherical triangles.
6371?