Even Impossible Questions .. Have Answers

What’s the circumference of our Earth?

Today this question can be answered by google in seconds but back in the third century BC. an ancient Greek scholar Eratosthenes got curious about this question. Of course, there were no books he could refer to or even a great scholar whom he could go and ask the answer to his Impossible Question.

Yet he found the answer without leaving his own city and without the help of any scientific instrument. The more interesting fact is, that today with the help of all modern equipment we know that his error is less than 3% of the actual value. What he measured in the 3rd century BC. is just off by 3%, that’s it.

Eratosthenes made some very clever observations and some simple calculations to find his answer which otherwise looked like an impossible task. Click on the Wikipedia article to read more about him and how he got his answer. With fewer tools and gadgets people in ancient times certainly accomplished seemingly impossible tasks.

Do you catch yourself saying…

“That’s impossible!”

Or “We don’t have enough resources. How will I make all this happen?”

Or another one “I can’t create magic with nothing”.

At moments like this let Eratosthenes’s story be your inspiration.