This short GeoGebra worksheet is designed to demonstrate how a family of three hyperbolas can be used to pinpoint the location of the occurrence of a loud sound such as an explosion or a lightning strike. The three points A, B, and C represent locations of devices capable of registering a sound and recording the precise moment in which it was recorded. Using 1100 ft/s as the speed of sound and expressing the scale in miles, the differences in the times at which the various stations recorded the sound can be combined with the distance between the stations to form unique hyperbolas upon one of whose branches the sound must have originated. Considering two or three such hyperbolas, it is usually not difficult to pinpoint the sound's point of origin.
