This is a problem I initially solved while I was a patient in the mental

hospital. A few years later I was testing it to see if it actually worked,

which it didn't, so I got into it again with a vengeance, solved every

possibility and tested all calculations for any situation on an Excel

spreadsheet. This is the result of my work. It's already been solved

before but I had to find out for myself.

 

http://jons-math.bravehost.com/triangulation.html

 

A necessary requirement for GPS is to determine the distance between the

satellite and the receiver. Somebody told me once that they do that with a

time stamp on the signal from the satellite. Even so I still don't see how

that distance can be determined. Can anyone enlighten me as to how this is

done? I can believe there's a cesium clock on the satellite, but not

synchronized with the receiver. Let me know.

 

My spreadsheet that instantaneously computes the solution for any input can be downloaded at,

 

http://jons-math.bravehost.com/triangulation/triangulation03.xls

The receiver's clock can be corrected using time signals from multiple satellites:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS#Correcting_a_GPS_receiver.27s_clock