From: "JACK L. URETSKY (C) 1996; HEP DIV., ARGONNE NATIONAL LAB, ARGONNE, IL 60439" <JLU@hep.anl.gov>
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 23:00:58 -0500 (CDT)
Hi David-
You ask:
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I have a question that I'm hoping some crack phys-ler can answer. This may
not be the proper forum for this question, but I don't subscribe to any
geography or cartography mail lists.
What is the "official" definition of latitude?
If the Earth were a sphere the answer to the question would be straight-
forward. Since the Earth's shape is much closer to an oblate ellipsoid of
revolution than a sphere we can define at least two inequivalent latitudes at
a given place P at its surface.
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The starting point for answering any such question, which is about
a definition, which is arbitrary, is an encyclopedia or (in this particular
case) an almanac. I checked, before responding, my 1945 Encyclopedia
Americana, which was unhelpful. Where have you looked?
Regards,
Jack