Why is the distance from a planet to the sun an average distance?

Answer 1

Hunter Arthur

All of the planets circle the sun in elliptical orbits.

The figure below shows the orbits of the planets.

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Answer 2

Owen Atkinson

I would say because the planets descibe an ellipse which doesn't have only one radius.

Considering the orbits for the planets of our solar system:

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Answer 3

Luke Allen

The distance from a planet to the sun is an average distance because planets follow elliptical orbits, and this value represents the semi-major axis of the elliptical orbit.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.