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Having fun with probability models (literature.cafe)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 11 months ago (8 children)

I thought even as far back as the 6th century people knew the world is round (Greeks/Romans), they even got the circumference pretty closely calculated. That wasn’t what was in question, it was what they would find that was in dispute. Columbus assumed he was taking a shortcut to get to India because he had some weird notions about the size of the earth (he thought it was smaller). The flat-earther stuff is more a modern conspiracy theory and Columbus’ story was embellished by Washington Irving (of Sleepy Hollow fame) to make it seem like everyone else thought the earth was flat.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 11 months ago

as far back as the 6th century

At least 800 years before that, maybe more. Eratosthenes calculated Earth's circumference around 240 BC. I would assume you have to believe the Earth is round is if you're measuring a circumference.

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