Question

A plane takes off and climbs steadily for 30 minutes until it reaches 40,000 feet. It travels at that altitude

for 2 hours until it begins to descend to land, which it takes 15 minutes at a constant rate. Draw a graph
of the situation

Answer 1

Answer: The graph is attached.

Explanation:

We must design a graph so that the x-axis represents the Time in hours and the y-axis represents the Height in feet.

The plane takes off from this point:

`A(0,0)`.

We know that the plane climbs steadily for 30 minutes (which is 0.5 hours) until it reaches 40000 feet. Then, we can identify another point; this is:

`B(0.5,\ 40000)`

It travels at that altitude for 2 hours (which indicates a horizontal line) and then it begins to descend to land, giving us another point:

`C(2.5\ 40000)`

This takes 15 minutes (which is 0.25 hours) at a constant rate. Then, we get a final point:

`D(2.75,\ 0)`

Knowing these points, we can draw the graph (Observe the image attached)