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16 votes
16 votes
#8 - A roller coaster takes riders up a 90 meter hill, then drops them 74 meters down and takes them back up a 30 meter hill followed by a 46 meter drop. What is the roller coasters elevation after the second drop, compared to where the roller coaster begins? Write your answer as an equation, and solve.

User Ethan Marcus
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1 Answer

14 votes
14 votes

Let x be the final elevation of the roller coaster.

Let us assume that the roller coaster started from ground level meaning that the elevation is 0 meter.

We will consider going up with a positive sign and going down with a negative sign.

So the equation will be


x=90-74+30-46

Let us solve the equation


\begin{gathered} x=90+30-74-46_{} \\ x=120-120 \\ x=0 \end{gathered}

Therefore, the elevation of the roller coaster is 0 meter which means that it is exactly where it started from.

User Gluttton
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