Eli5: Why Mauna Mea isn’t the tallest mountain as it lies above 10000 meter above the Pacific Ocean bed while Mount everest only around 8500 meter?
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Some people consider Mauna Kea taller than Everest because they’re measuring from its base on the ocean floor, rather than just what’s visible above ground.
Everest is usually called the “highest”, but there’s debate over “tallest” because people don’t agree on what is considered the base.
It’s simply because we measure everything at sea level. We can’t make exceptions for measurements, or everything will want an exception, and measuring anything will be moot.
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It’s just definitions. Mauna **K**ea (title typo) IS the “tallest mountain from base to peak”. Everest is the “tallest mountain by peak elevation above sea level”. Another interesting one is Mt. Chimborazo, the “mountain whose peak is the farthest point from the center of the Earth”. The Earth itself isn’t spherical and the base of Chimborazo is near the equator where the Earth bulges out. Its base is farther from the planet’s center more than Everest’s, enough to compensate for Everest itself being taller base-to-peak.
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