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Eratosthenes Method

A long time ago (ca 260 BC) Eratosthenes used measurements of sun shadows in different places to calculate the cincumference of the earth. He got it pretty much right with an error of less than 4 %.

What if Eratosthenes had been trying to calculate the distance to the sun instead of the circumference of the earth using his method. Would it be possible? - Why or why not?

link: https://www.ancient.eu/Eratosthenes/

Posted - June 25, 2017

Responses


  • 44614
    Yes. I made a quick sketch of the problem and he would have had three angles and one distance. If he knew the trigonometric equations the distance could be calculated.
      June 25, 2017 7:57 AM MDT
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  • Why wouldn't he just go to the encyclopedia and look it up?
      June 25, 2017 7:56 PM MDT
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