The latitude that is defined in this way for the sphere is often termed the spherical latitude to avoid ambiguity with auxiliary latitudes defined in subsequent sections.
In 1687 Isaac Newton published the Principia in which he included a proof that a rotating self-gravitating fluid body in equilibrium takes the form of an oblate ellipsoid.[5] (This article uses the term ellipsoid in preference to the older term spheroid). Newton's theoretical result was confirmed by precise geodetic measurements in the eighteenth century. (See Meridian arc). The definition of an oblate ellipsoid is the three dimensional surface generated by the rotation of a two dimensional ellipse about its shorter axis (minor axis). 'Oblate ellipsoid of revolution' is abbreviated to ellipsoid in the remainder of this article: this is the current practice in geodetic literature. (Ellipsoids which do not have an axis of symmetry are termed tri-axial).
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