Abstract We present a method of calculating the scale height of non-edge-on spiral galaxies, together with a formula for errors. The method is based on solving Poisson's equation for a logarithmic disturbance of matter density in spiral galaxies. We show that the spiral arms can not extend to inside the ``forbidden radius'' r0, due to the effect of the finite thickness of the disk. The method is tested by re-calculating the scale heights of 71 northern spiral galaxies previously calculated by Ma, Peng & Gu. Our results differ from theirs by less than 9%. We also present the scale heights of a further 23 non-edge-on spiral galaxies.
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