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Every school child learns that the earth-sun distance is 93 million miles. Yet, determining this distance was a formidable challenge to the best scientists and mathematicians of the 18th and 19th centuries. The purpose of this lesson is to use the 2012 Transit of Venus as an opportunity to work through the mathematics to calculate the earth-sun distance. The only tools needed are basic knowledge of geometry, algebra, and trigonometry. The lesson is self-contained in that it includes all the data needed to work through the exercise.
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