He used only simple geometry and observation of the sun
Eratosthenes assumed that the sun was so far from the earth that its rays were practically parallel when they reached it, and that the earth was spherical. Then, he calculated the the degree of elevation of the sun at Alexandria and Syene at specific times, and estimated the distance between the two. By so doing, he was able to calculate what he thought was the number of stadia per degree of elevation of the sun. Then, he multiplied this quantity by 360 degrees (the maximum elevation of the sun assuming that the earth was spherical) to calculate the circumference of the earth.
Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes calculated the Earth's circumference by measuring shadows at two different locations at the same time. He then used the angles of the shadows cast by a vertical stick to calculate the Earth's circumference using geometry and trigonometry. By comparing the shadow angles at two different locations, Eratosthenes was able to estimate the Earth's size accurately.
Eratosthenes determined the size of the Earth by measuring the angle of the shadow cast by a vertical stick in two different locations on the same day. By comparing the angles at the two locations and knowing the distance between them, he was able to calculate the Earth's circumference.
n the 200s BC, Eratosthenes figured out a very clever method for measuring the size of the Earth. He heard about a well in Syene (in modern Egypt) where the sunshine reached the bottom only at noon in the summer solstice. So he knew exactly when the sun was directly overhead. Further north in Alexandria he put a stick straight up in the ground and measured the angle of its shadow at that precise moment as 7.2°. It meant that the distance from Syene to Alexandria was 7.2/360 of the Earth's circumference. Since he knew this distance, he could compute the circumference as 39250km, a diameter of about 12500km.n the 200s BC, Eratosthenes figured out a very clever method for measuring the size of the Earth. He heard about a well in Syene (in modern Egypt) where the sunshine reached the bottom only at noon in the summer solstice. So he knew exactly when the sun was directly overhead. Further north in Alexandria he put a stick straight up in the ground and measured the angle of its shadow at that precise moment as 7.2°. It meant that the distance from Syene to Alexandria was 7.2/360 of the Earth's circumference. Since he knew this distance, he could compute the circumference as 39250km, a diameter of about 12500km.
That the earth was round, and calculated it's circumference to be 24,675 miles, relatively close to the actual figure. To add to that, the actual figure is 24,901.55 miles (40,075.16 kilometers) at the equator, but shorter from pole to pole, 24,859.82 miles (40,008 km). This is because the earth is not exactly round, but has the shape of oblate spheroid, or ellipsoid, or more properly, geoid (earth-like).
Which of the following describes how Eratosthenes discovered the approximate circumference of the earth
He did not do so. Earth was well-known to be a globe for at least two hundred years before Eratosthenes' time. What Eratosthenes did was to measure the earth's circumference for the first time. He did that at some time between 236 BC and 195 BC.
Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes
He postulated the circumference of the earth.
Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes
rome
Eratosthenes
he wanted to find the circumference of the earth.
Both postulated on the earth's circumference.
I believe that would be the Earth.