You are standing on a beach looking out into the ocean. Assuming your view is unobstructed, how far can you see?

(In reply to re: RE: I see no ship by John)

I disagree, I don't think the question needs to be clarified at all.  Juggler is simply asking us "how far away is the horizon line?", that's all.

I don't think you have to assume the distance from your eyes to the ground, just call that H.  But yes, you do have to assume the Earth is a perfect sphere of radius R.  Several people have already solved the problem in terms of H and R, without assuming a value for either.

Posted by nikki on 2005-01-24 20:20:46