Worse than that! It assumes (and requires, for the calculation to provide meaningful output) that the earth is a sphere to begin with!
It is often misrepresented as a "proof the world is spherical", but how could you ever prove the world was spherical by merely assuming it was true? Eratosthenes was raised to believe the world was spherical from childhood, just like us today. He never doubted it or sought to prove it in any way.
Actually, there are MANY reasons the eratosthenes "experiment" is not an experiment.
Worse than that! It assumes (and requires, for the calculation to provide meaningful output) that the earth is a sphere to begin with!
It is often misrepresented as a "proof the world is spherical", but how could you ever prove the world was spherical by merely assuming it was true? Eratosthenes was raised to believe the world was spherical from childhood, just like us today. He never doubted it or sought to prove it in any way.
Actually, there are MANY reasons the eratosthenes "experiment" is not an experiment.
That's why I linked to v sauce