the earth’s diameter around the equator is 8000 miles…
how do you measure the earth’s diameter 6 miles north of the equator…it is obviously less than 8000 but how the heck do you do it?
I would appreciate someone with the answer and the process they used to figured it out…
You assume the earth is a sphere.
You use trig to calculate what angle 6 miles makes with the equatorial radius.
You use trig to figure out the new radius of the 6 miles N latitude circle.
Double it.
All the details are left out because this sounds like a homework question.
Try a web search on Eratosthenes alexandria Earth and you’ll find out exactly how it was done millennia ago!
If you assume the earth to be a sphere (a big assumption) then :
Radius at 6 miles away from Equator = Sqrt(4000^2-6^2) miles
Multiply by 2 to get the diameter 
Personally, I own the world’s biggest tape measure.
Agreed. Sounds a lot like a homework assignment. And misstated, slightly, at that (or the teacher goofed).
Strictly speaking, of course, a sphere has only one diameter, which passes through the center. The earth, being not a perfect sphere, has a range of diameters, largest at the equator and smallest pole-to-pole. But all of them pass through the center. Unless I’m being dense, the problem stated cannot be solved without this latter datum.
My guess is that the problem really is, or is supposed to be, the diameter of the circle of lattitude 6 miles north of the equator. A much, much easier problem to solve. And, no, SS, no more hints, from me at least.
The only other possibility I can see is that the question is correctly stated after all, in which event it’s a trick question. And that really is my very last hint!
Leave it to me to do it the hard way…
:smack:
BTW, implicit in my last paragraph is that the assignment tells you to assume the Earth is a perfect sqhere. (It’s the only way the problem could be correctly stated.)
Go outside and tie a string around a tree, then start walking. When you get back to the tree, remove the string and measure it.
What, there’s another way to do it?
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LOL. Reminds me of the famous Barometer Problem. Yes, there are lots of other ways. Of course, some of them are less useful than others in demonstrating proficiency in the subject matter of the course.
What IS the subect matter of the course again?
Good question. Presumably math (as opposed to, say, geology or geography), but hard to know which flavor. I’d be curious to know, and at what grade-course level.