# Direction of a bearing

What is the direction in degrees that corresponds to the bearing S 48 W? Do not give any units in your answer. As usual, your answer should consist only of a number. Your answer must be between -180 and 179.

so since its -(90+48)= -138 correct?

This is the theory i have in my textbook

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I don't understand the problem, but I really don't understand why there's a 480 in the problem and a 48 in your solution. Or is that 480 supposed to be 48 degrees? –  Gerry Myerson Sep 17 '12 at 5:42
I would concur with Brian's answer. More typically it would be expressed as 228°. –  copper.hat Sep 17 '12 at 7:14
What you have in your textbook confirms my guess at the meaning of $S$48\$° W but doesn’t have any bearing (sorry!) on the other assumptions. –  Brian M. Scott Sep 17 '12 at 7:28
Agree with copper.hat. I have never seen a compass dial with negative numbers. Quite irrespective of what OP's textbook says. OTOH adding/subtracting a multiple of 360 to accomodate for the whims of a textbook author is also a basic skill. Anyway I'm fairly sure that copper.hat was simply making the observation that the prescribed interval of length 360 is an odd choice in the context of compass bearings. –  Jyrki Lahtonen Sep 17 '12 at 7:33
@JyrkiLahtonen ya i also knew that there is no negative compass.. u know wat i am going to clarify this with my teacher and going to show him this post haha.. –  JackyBoi Sep 17 '12 at 7:40