eli5 How does measuring area in square miles work? If you have very mountainous terrain, does that increase the area compared to somewhere that is very flat?

Question

eli5 How does measuring area in square miles work? If you have very mountainous terrain, does that increase the area compared to somewhere that is very flat?

In: 4

Answer 1

[deleted]

Answer 2

If you’re measuring surface area yes.

If you were to look at God’s eye view of a 1×1 mile square of land. One flat, one mountainous, the flat would appear bigger.

Answer 3

There’s an episode of the “A Problem Squared” Podcast where Matt Parker goes over that topic.

I think it was 008

Short answer: it is the projected area, not the real 3D surface area that is measured.