Question

A small airplane climbs at an angle of elevation of 16° with the ground. Find the actual distance (from the runway to the airplane now) the plane has flown when it has climbed to an altitude 900 meters above the airport.

Answer 1

To find the actual distance the plane has flown when it has climbed to an altitude of 900 meters, we can use trigonometry and the tangent function. Actual Distance = 3084.78 meters

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the actual distance the plane has flown when it has climbed to an altitude of 900 meters above the airport, we can use trigonometry. The angle of elevation of 16° represents the angle between the ground and the climb path of the airplane.

We can use the tangent function to find the ratio between the vertical distance climbed and the horizontal distance (actual distance). The tangent of 16° is equal to the ratio of the altitude (900 meters) to the actual distance. So, we can rearrange the formula to find the actual distance.

Actual Distance = Altitude / tan(Angle of Elevation)

Plugging in the values, we get:

Actual Distance = 900 meters / tan(16°)

≈ 3084.78 meters