Reverse Bearing Calculator

Enter the current bearing (degrees) into the Reverse Bearing Calculator. The calculator will evaluate and display the Reverse Bearing. 

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Reverse Bearing Formula

The following formula is used to calculate the Reverse Bearing (back bearing) for whole-circle bearings/azimuths in degrees, normalized to the 0° to <360° range.

RB=\begin{cases}
CB+180,&CB<180\\
CB-180,&CB\ge 180
\end{cases}

• Where RB is the Reverse Bearing (degrees)
• CB is the current bearing (degrees) 

In other words, add 180° to the current bearing and wrap the result into 0° to <360° (equivalently: RB = (CB + 180) mod 360).

How to Calculate Reverse Bearing?

The following example problems outline how to calculate Reverse Bearing.

Example Problem #1:

1. First, determine the current bearing (degrees).
   • The current bearing (degrees) is given as: 50.
2. Finally, calculate the Reverse Bearing using the equation above: 

RB = CB + 180

The values given above are inserted into the equation below and the solution is calculated:

RB = 50 + 180 = 230 (degrees)

Example Problem #2: 

For this problem, the variables required are provided below:

current bearing (degrees) = 80

Test your knowledge using the equation and check your answer with the calculator above.

RB = CB + 180 = ?

RB = 80 + 180 = 260 (degrees)