Uncommon · Knowledge
Flattening
Measure of compression of an ellipse or ellipsoid of revolution; property of having one dimension significantly less than the rest
Flattening is a measure of the compression of a circle or sphere along a diameter to form an ellipse or an ellipsoid of revolution (spheroid) respectively. Other terms used are ellipticity, or oblateness.
From Wikipedia
Flattening is a measure of the compression of a circle or sphere along a diameter to form an ellipse or an ellipsoid of revolution (spheroid) respectively. Other terms used are ellipticity, or oblateness. The usual notation for flattening is f {\displaystyle f} and its definition in terms of the semi-axes a {\displaystyle a} and b {\displaystyle b} of the resulting ellipse or ellipsoid is f = a − b a . {\displaystyle f={\frac {a-b}{a}}.} The compression factor is b / a {\displaystyle b/a} in each case; for the ellipse, this is also its aspect ratio.
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