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I think the author has become a little confused by what nautical mile means today and has meant in the past. Originally (maybe as far back as the 15th Century)
by mjlee 13y ago
I think the author has become a little confused by what nautical mile means today and has meant in the past.
Originally (maybe as far back as the 15th Century) a nautical mile was just 1 minute of arc of the Earth's circumference no matter where you were on the Earth.
A nautical mile at the pole would be quite short, a nautical mile at the equator would be quite long.
- ErsatzVerkehr 13y ago> A nautical mile at the pole would be quite short, a nautical mile at the equator would be quite long. No, this is emphatically not the case. You're confusing a minute of curvature -- a minute along a great circle path -- with a minute of latitude.
- mjlee 13y agoA minute of latitude was the originally definition of the nautical mile. I'm not exactly sure when it changed to be defined as the mean nautical mile. I'm not talking about how it is today, I'm talking about the inconsistencies in this article.