A barometric formula gives the pressure in a planetary atmosphereusually the Earth'sas a function of height.

Since the temperature and composition of the atmosphere are complicated functions of height,
and because gravitation is an inverse function of distance to the center of the planet, a completely general barometric formula is very intricate.
However, two simplified formulas are in common use. The first is based on the assumption that temperature, gravitation, and composition are constant throughout the atmosphere. Further it is used that the
atmosphere is an ideal gas. The equation thus obtained is a form of a Boltzmann distribution,

Here p(z) is the pressure at height z; z0 is a suitable reference height, often the surface of the planet and usually referred to as "base"; m is the mass of one mole of the atmospheric gas (note that the
equation holds for a pure gas, if the atmosphere contains more than one compound a weighted-average mass is used); g is the constant gravitational acceleration; R is the molar gas constant; T is the
absolute temperature (assumed to be independent of z).
The second barometric formula is based on the same assumptions as the first, the only generalization being that the temperature is taken to be linear in height with a slope L, the atmospheric lapse
rate. The equation is

In practical applications,[1] the lowest part of the Earth's atmosphere is divided in 7 layers that start (above sea level) at:

0, 11, 20, 32, 47, 51, 71 km'

and end at 84.8520 km' (86.000 km), where the unit km' is the geopotential kilometer, which is nearly equal to the geometric (SI) kilometer. For each layer the second equation
may be applied with values for T and L appropriate for that layer.