Circle of a sphere Circle of a sphere A circle of a sphere is a circle that lies on a sphere. Such a circle can be formed as the intersection of a sphere and a plane, or of two spheres. A circle on a sphere whose plane passes through the center of the sphere is called a great circle; otherwise it is a small circle. Circles of a sphere have radius less than or equal to the sphere radius, with equality when the circle is a great circle. In the geographic coordinate system on a globe, the parallels of latitude are such circles, with
Distance from a point to a line are vertical lines). Corresponding sides of these triangles are in the same ratio, so: If point "S" has coordinates ("x","m") then |"PS"| = |"y" - "m"| and the distance from "P" to the line is: Since "S" is on the line, we can find the value of m, and finally obtain: A variation of this proof is to place V at P and compute the area of the triangle ∆"UVT" two ways to obtain that formula_17 where D is the altitude of ∆"UVT" drawn to the hypoteneuse of ∆"UVT" from "P". The distance formula can then used to express formula_18,