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How Has Math Been Used To Measure The Circumference Of The Earth?

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Links between mathematics and the world around us
Journal Entry 3

How has math been used to measure the circumference of the earth?

Throughout history people have tried to measure the size of the earth. With today’s satellite technology we know the earth’s circumference to be 40,075 km. However before this technology was invented a few bright individuals, such as Eratosthenes and Al-Biruni, were able to use mathematics to measure the earth’s circumference with astounding accuracy.
Timeline

During the Greek era many philosophers speculated about the shape of the earth. The idea of earth being a sphere shape was widely accepted among early Greeks. Pythagoras (570 - 495 BC) supported this belief with tales of ships disappearing bottom first over the horizon, and stars popping in and out of view over the horizon when travelling across sea. …show more content…

Plato (424 - 347 BC) guessed the circumference of the earth to be roughly between 62,800 and 74,000 km. In Egypt a Greek scholar by the name of Eratosthenes used mathematics to make a much more precise and accurate approximation of the earth’s circumference.
Eratosthenes knew that at midday on one day each year in Syene, a town in southern Egypt, there was no shadow at the bottom of a well. This meant that at midday during that day the sun was directly above Syene. At midday on the same day in the town of Alexandria, roughly 800 km to the North, a tower cast a shadow. Thus Eratosthenes knew that the sun was not directly above the town of Alexandria on midday that same

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