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Eratosthenes... knew that the Sun was straight overhead in... Syene at noon on the, but that it was 7.2 degrees south of straight overhead in, located 794 kilometers farther north. He concluded... 794 kilometers corresponded to 7.2 degrees out of the 360 degrees... around Earth's circumference, so that the circumference must be 794 km x 360°/7.2°≈39,700 km... remarkably close to the modern value of 40,000 km.
Amusingly Christopher Columbus totally bungled this... confusing Arabic miles with Italian miles... (en) |
