Which surface route is shorter?

Two points share a latitude. The cyan parallel looks straight on a flat map; the yellow great circle is straight according to the sphere's metric.

LATITUDE 40°

LONGITUDE GAP 120°

TRANSFER COMPLETE

CURVATURE CHANGES “STRAIGHT.”

Mastery2 / 2

Great circles are geodesics.

Worked case83.1° vs 91.9°

Transfer case—

Tangent evidencedirection stays in local plane

The tangent plane is the best local flat approximation, but only the spherical metric settles a global route. Away from the equator, a latitude circle keeps turning sideways within the surface; the great circle does not.

RESULT COMPLETE · EXPORT READY

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