the shortest distance between two points on the earth's surface is
Great-circle distance The Earth is nearly spherical (see Earth radius), so great-circle distance formulas give the distance between points on the surface of the Earth correct to within about 0.5%.[1] (See Arc length § Arcs of great circles on the Earth.)
Pi Ï€ is commonly defined as the ratio of a circle's circumference C to its diameter d:[9]
Prime meridian On Earth, starting at the North Pole and heading south to the South Pole, the IERS Reference Meridian (as of 2016) passes through:
Earth The shape of Earth is approximately oblate spheroidal. Due to rotation, the Earth is flattened along the geographic axis and bulging around the equator.[92] The diameter of the Earth at the equator is 43 kilometres (27 mi) larger than the pole-to-pole diameter.[93] Thus the point on the surface farthest from Earth's center of mass is the summit of the equatorial Chimborazo volcano in Ecuador.[94][95][96][97] The average diameter of the reference spheroid is 12,742 kilometres (7,918 mi). Local topography deviates from this idealized spheroid, although on a global scale these deviations are small compared to Earth's radius: The maximum deviation of only 0.17% is at the Mariana Trench (10,911 metres (35,797 ft) below local sea level), whereas Mount Everest (8,848 metres (29,029 ft) above local sea level) represents a deviation of 0.14%.[n 13]