Hi again everybody. Now this will sound like a trivial question but I'd like some views on it please. We all hear about diagonal centre DC and DW and any diagrams in books or web-sites show the classic 8 directions along and backing LOD (which is unambiguous ) to wall, to centre, and backing these. Then we have directions which are 45 degrees (2/8 of a turn)to these - DW, DC, and backing these.
Now I've (a senior pre-champ international standard dancer) heard some teachers say things like "take that DW step towards the corner" .I understand that the 45 degrees are not meant to be at protractor precision, and of course in an actual competition, some compromise might be unavoidable. My difficulty with the "aim for the corner" concept is 3-fold:
1) that on a long, narrow floor, this could become almost LOD and the figures (e.g. outside change to PP) would dance differently. And I daren't ask how DC might be interpreted from halfway down the long side of the floor.
2) all technique books talk about "3/8 turn" between steps 1and 2 (for example) which strongly implies from backing LOD to 45 degrees DW (as an example).
3) why not just call it "TC" (to corner)?
Sorry to seem a little pedantic, but it's bothering me and causing some partnership problems (and thus important to clarify). You may have guessed that my background is in science. But please don't be upset by that - somebody has to do it.

Tech. books are essentially a guide, and also to standardise universal teaching methods.
One does not need a slide rule, to meet that minute precision you seem to need .

Adjustments whilst dancing, often require imprecise amounts of turn etc.

IF you were dancing for a medal test exam, or, being examined as a prof. then unwise to deviate from the " book"

I also have a science/engineering background so I may be biased, but I believe it is important to teach beginners the correct alignment of figures. It is part of the basic groundwork they need to be able to properly progress around the floor without impeding other dancers. Being pedantic, alignment refers to where you are facing and direction refers to where you are moving which is not always the same thing.

I spend quite a bit of time with my beginners working on alignments in the hope that a steady drip, drip, drip will evenually make its way into their memories. I always make the point that Centre does NOT mean the centre of the room, especially approaching a corner. It takes a while before they grasp the concept that, at a corner, DC is the same as DW on new LOD, but once they get it, it sticks. I also get them to consider the alignments as they apply to a non rectangular room as we have a few odd shaped village halls around here.

I can see that a teacher may suggest a pupil takes a step towards a corner, but only when close to the corner, not from halfway along the hall.

My real bugbear is when pupils come from other teachers who a) don't tell them the names of the figures, and b) teach them to "turn to face the piano"! I must stress that the local pukka dances schools do not teach their potential medallists/competitors that way.

You've lost me here On the bit were you say in paragraph two, " at a corner ".
Look at the top left where it says Re " Diagonal " . Stand in Reply and step towards the D. of " Diagonal " with the R.F. Now step across to the top of the D. with the L.F.and bring the feet together having now made 3/8's of a Turn. You are now facing strait down the floor against the L.O.D. It doe not matter if you are on side one or side two thats how you should complete the first three steps of a Natural Turn. Now turn the whole thing a 1/4 of a turn to the left The words Re Diagonal would be at the bottom left corner you are now on side two. And proceed with you Natural Turn. Which of course would be at the top starting side two
In the first Medal I took which was Bronze . In the Quickstep half way down side one we had to do a complete Natural Spin Turn to finish backing Diagonal to the Center with the L.O.D and continue down the floor to the corner with a Progressive Chasses and a Lock Steps .Still on side One.