🔍 Key Concepts

• Meaning of the letters K, B, and M in ship stability diagrams • Difference between center of buoyancy and metacenter • How vertical distances are labeled from the keel upward

💭 Think About

• Think about what point the center of buoyancy actually is and what letter is normally used for it in diagrams and formulas. • Recall from your stability notes: which letter represents the keel, which represents the center of buoyancy, and which represents the metacenter? • Look at which of the options could logically mean a distance measured from the keel versus the name of a point itself.

✅ Before You Answer

• Identify which single letter is used for the center of buoyancy in standard notation. • Determine which abbreviation usually means a distance from the keel to a point (for example, from keel to center of buoyancy). • Confirm you are not mixing up the metacentric height with the height of the center of buoyancy.