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Flattening


The flattening of a spheroid (also called oblateness) is denoted epsilon or f (Snyder 1987, p. 13). It is defined as

 epsilon={(a-c)/a=1-c/a   oblate; (c-a)/a=c/a-1   prolate,
(1)

where c is the polar radius and a is the equatorial radius.

It is related to the ellipticity by

epsilon=1-sqrt(1-e^2)
(2)
e=sqrt(epsilon(2-epsilon))
(3)

(Snyder 1987, p. 13).


See also

Ellipsoid, Ellipticity, Oblate Spheroid, Prolate Spheroid, Spheroid

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References

Snyder, J. P. Map Projections--A Working Manual. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1395. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1987.

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Flattening

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Flattening." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Flattening.html

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