Clarification

In the article "No hot dogs here;..." on page 7, July 14, the description of the origin of the length of a meter came up short. The meter should have been defined as 1/10-millionth of the distance along a longitude line that runs from the North Pole to the equator through Paris.

How did the 18th-century French determine that distance? They measured the length of a longitude line running from Dunkerque, France, to a point near Barcelona, Spain, made some astronomical observations, and crunched the numbers.

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