What is trilateration?

Trilateration is when you figure out where something is by knowing how far it is from three different places.

Imagine you're playing hide-and-seek in a park. You know your friend is somewhere near the swings, but not exactly where. If you know they are 10 steps away from the swings, that means they could be anywhere on a circle around the swings, like a big round path you can walk along.

Now imagine you also know they’re 8 steps away from the slide. That gives another circle, and now your friend must be where those two circles overlap, like when two round cookies touch each other in the middle.

Finally, if you also know they’re 6 steps away from the sandbox, that third circle narrows it all down to just one spot, the place where all three circles meet. That’s how trilateration works: using distances from three points to find an exact location. It's like being a detective who uses clues about distance instead of footprints!