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Who first calculated the circumference of the earth?
The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) is credited as the first person to try and calculate the size of the Earth by determining its circumference (the length around the equator) He estimated this distance to be 400,000 stades (a stadia is a Greek measurement equaling about 600 feet).
Did the Egyptians calculate the circumference of the earth?
In the third century BCE , Eratosthenes, a Greek librarian in Alexandria , Egypt , determined the earth’s circumference to be 40,250 to 45,900 kilometers (25,000 to 28,500 miles) by comparing the Sun’s relative position at two different locations on the earth’s surface.
Who Found Way of the calculating of the circumference of circle?
1650 BC) gives us insight into the mathematics of ancient Egypt. The Egyptians calculated the area of a circle by a formula that gave the approximate value of 3.1605 for π. The first calculation of π was done by Archimedes of Syracuse (287–212 BC), one of the greatest mathematicians of the ancient world.
How did they calculate the radius of the Earth?
This means that Eratosthenes estimated the circumference of the Earth to be about 40,000 km. He also knew that the circumference of a circle was equal to 2 times π (3.1415…) times the radius of the circle. (C = 2πr) With this information, Eratosthenes inferred that the Earth’s radius was 6366 km.
Why does circumference formula work?
It sounds like you are aware of this, but just to clarify: the formulae 2πr and πd for the circumference of the circle are equivalent because the diameter is twice the radius. The former statement is often more useful simply because the radius of a circle is a property that we often refer to.
When did people calculate the circumference of the earth?
By around 500 B.C., most ancient Greeks believed that Earth was round, not flat. But they had no idea how big the planet is until about 240 B.C., when Eratosthenes devised a clever method of estimating its circumference.
Who calculated the radius of the earth?
Eratosthenes
This means that Eratosthenes estimated the circumference of the Earth to be about 40,000 km. He also knew that the circumference of a circle was equal to 2 times π (3.1415…) times the radius of the circle. (C = 2πr) With this information, Eratosthenes inferred that the Earth’s radius was 6366 km.