Question

A plane takes off from the New Orleans airport and flies over the Gulf at 1,500 ft. Above sea level. At the same time a submarine leaves the port in New Orleans, submerges and travels at 300 feet below sea level. What is the distance between the plane and the submarine?

Answer 1

We have been given that a plane takes off from the New Orleans airport and flies over the Gulf at 1,500 ft. Above sea level. At the same time a submarine leaves the port in New Orleans, submerges and travels at 300 feet below sea level. We are asked to find the distance between the plane and the submarine.

Since the airplane is above sea level, so elevation of plane will be positive that is
`1,500\text{ ft}`.

Since the submarine is below sea level, so elevation of submarine will be negative that is
`-300\text{ ft}`.

Now we can find distance between the plane and the submarine as:

`\text{Distance between the plane and the submarine}=1,500\text{ ft}-(-300\text{ ft})`

`\text{Distance between the plane and the submarine}=1,500\text{ ft}+300\text{ ft}`

`\text{Distance between the plane and the submarine}=1,800\text{ ft}`

Therefore, the distance between the plane and the submarine is 1800 feet.