# Sundial question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2006, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sundial-question/373874 "2006-09-23T19:43:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sundial-question/373874/21 "2006-09-25T00:31:20Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] Oh, you can do it with no math at all. Just poke a stick in the ground at any old place, and then take your watch out at 1-hour intervals one day and mark where the shadow is each hour. It’ll only be right for that day, but it’ll be right. [/quote] But that’s cheating! :eek: That assumes that you already have a watch! What if you were Tom Hanks, your watch broke in the plane crash, and you had to work everything out from first principles? Just for grins, if you _did_ trace it out for a whole year, you’d get [something like this](http://www.mysundial.ca/tsp/azimuthal_sundial.html). [This site](http://www.mysundial.ca/tsp/tsp_index.html) has all kind of stuff about sundials, most of which I freely admit is beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sundial-question/373874/22 "2006-09-25T01:08:42Z")
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig] But that’s cheating! :eek: That assumes that you already have a watch! What if you were Tom Hanks, your watch broke in the plane crash, and you had to work everything out from first principles? Just for grins, if you _did_ trace it out for a whole year, you’d get [something like this](http://www.mysundial.ca/tsp/azimuthal_sundial.html). [This site](http://www.mysundial.ca/tsp/tsp_index.html) has all kind of stuff about sundials, most of which I freely admit is beyond me. [/QUOTE] Thanks for the link to “This Site” It is fantastic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sundial-question/373874.md?page=1)