What is the highest point on Earth as measured from Earth's center?
>You may be surprised to learn that Everest is not the tallest mountain on Earth, either. That honor belongs to Mauna Kea, a volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. Mauna Kea originates deep beneath the Pacific Ocean, and rises more than 33,500 feet from base to peak.<p>Can someone explain this? How do you differentiate "the mountain" from "the rest of the earth that it comes out of"?<p>(Side note: the issue of "tallest mountain", as discussed here, is a great example of dealing with an ambiguous concept and clarifying it by asking what you're trying to do with the answer.)