What are the directions of N, S, W and M of the compass?

There are only four directions on the compass: north, south, west and east, which refer to north, south, west and east respectively.

The letter representations of East, West, South and North are determined according to the first letters of their English words.

Compasses are often used in navigation, geodesy, travel and military affairs. The invention of the compass with physical direction indication has three parts, namely Sina, compass and magnetic needle, all of which belong to the invention of China.

Extended data:

The earth is a big magnet. The poles of the earth are close to the geographical south pole and the geographical north pole respectively. When the magnets on the surface of the earth can rotate freely, they will indicate the north and south because of the nature that the magnets repel each other and attract each other-this truth was not understood by the ancients; But this phenomenon has been discovered by the ancients. Using this principle, China ancients invented the prototype of the compass-Sina.

In order to accurately determine the relative direction of the compass, people later added four directions (e, s, w, n) to it.

As one of four great inventions of ancient china, the invention of compass has played an inestimable role in the development of human science and technology and civilization. In ancient China, the compass was first used for rituals, etiquette, military affairs and divination, and to determine the orientation when looking at geomantic omen.

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