my coworker was standing outside today while having a smoke and looked at the telephone poles.. eventually he came up with this interesting math problem that he came to me with..
and i solved it! its like doing word problems in hs again!
here's what he brought to me: there are two skyscrapers next to eachother.
because of the curvature of the earth's surface, the distance between the two buildings at the top will be larger than the distance at the bottom.
so if we know the difference between the distances between the buildings, and where on the buildings the measurement is, can we calculate the circumference of the earth's surface?
the answer is yes, and i actually got the formula to get it! its actually easier than it sounds, and obviously its not that hard if i can do it.. especially now.. this long after goin to class.. whew!
