Question

Explain why there is no higher latitude than 90°N and 90°S

Answer 1

Longitude” goes 360 degrees, 180 East to 180 West, to cover the entire 360 degrees around the equator. But if latitude did the same thing, every point on the earth would be covered twice! So latitude only has to cover 180 degrees, from the north pole to the south pole. Taking the equator to be 0 degrees, the north pole is 180/2= 90 degrees N, the south pole is 180/2= 90 degrees S. (Of course, we COULD do it the other way, taking latitude to go 360 degrees around the earth and then take longitude to cover 180 degrees. It is simply an arbitrary historical choice that it should be the way it is.