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  2. Ellipsoid - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsoid

    An ellipsoid is a surface that can be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation. An ellipsoid is a quadric surface; that is, a surface that may be defined as the zero set of a polynomial of degree two in three variables. Among quadric surfaces, an ellipsoid is ...

  3. Geodesics on an ellipsoid - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geodesics_on_an_ellipsoid

    On a closed surface such as an ellipsoid, m 12 oscillates about zero. The point at which m 12 becomes zero is the point conjugate to the starting point. In order for a geodesic between A and B , of length s 12 , to be a shortest path it must satisfy the Jacobi condition ( Jacobi 1837 ) ( Jacobi 1866 , §6) ( Forsyth 1927 , §§26–27) ( Bliss ...

  4. Geographical distance - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_distance

    Geodesic on an oblate ellipsoid. An ellipsoid approximates the surface of the Earth much better than a sphere or a flat surface does. The shortest distance along the surface of an ellipsoid between two points on the surface is along the geodesic. Geodesics follow more complicated paths than great circles and in particular, they usually don't ...

  5. World Geodetic System - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Geodetic_System

    The value for the semimajor axis (a) of the WGS 72 Ellipsoid is 6 378 135 m. The adoption of an a-value 10 meters smaller than that for the WGS 66 Ellipsoid was based on several calculations and indicators including a combination of satellite and surface gravity data for position and gravitational field determinations. Sets of satellite derived ...

  6. Geodetic coordinates - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geodetic_coordinates

    Geodetic latitude and geocentric latitude have different definitions. Geodetic latitude is defined as the angle between the equatorial plane and the surface normal at a point on the ellipsoid, whereas geocentric latitude is defined as the angle between the equatorial plane and a radial line connecting the centre of the ellipsoid to a point on the surface (see figure).

  7. Earth ellipsoid - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_ellipsoid

    In geodesy, a reference ellipsoid is a mathematically defined surface that approximates the geoid, which is the truer, imperfect figure of the Earth, or other planetary body, as opposed to a perfect, smooth, and unaltered sphere, which factors in the undulations of the bodies' gravity due to variations in the composition and density of the ...

  8. Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Mathematics/2007 November 1 ...

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/...

    The ellipse (x^2 / a^2) + (y^2 / b^2) = 1, a > b is rotated about the x-axis to form a surface called an ellipsoid. Find the surface area of this ellipsoid. Find the surface area of this ellipsoid.

  9. Equivalent radius - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivalent_radius

    The formula for a rotational ellipsoid is the special case where =. Likewise, an oblate ... one can calculate its surface area-equivalent radius by setting ...