Virginia is flying a Cessna and is descending at a 6°6° angle towards a runway. If she can see a dam behind her at a 45°45° angle that is 250250 meters away from the runway, how much further does she have to fly until she lands? Round to the nearest tenth.
Question
Virginia is flying a Cessna and is descending at a 6°6° angle towards a runway. If she can see a dam behind her at a 45°45° angle that is 250250 meters away from the runway, how much further does she have to fly until she lands? Round to the nearest tenth.
Solution
To solve this problem, we can use trigonometry.
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First, we need to understand that Virginia is forming a right triangle with the runway and the dam. The runway is the base of the triangle, the line from the dam to her current position is the hypotenuse, and the line from her current position to the runway is the height of the triangle.
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We know that the angle of descent is 6 degrees and the distance from the dam to the runway is 250 meters. We can use the tangent of the angle of descent to find the distance she has to fly until she lands.
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The tangent of an angle in a right triangle is defined as the ratio of the opposite side (height) to the adjacent side (base). So, we can set up the equation as follows:
tan(6°) = height / 250 meters
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Solving for height, we get:
height = tan(6°) * 250 meters
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Using a calculator, we find that tan(6°) is approximately 0.1051. Multiplying this by 250 meters gives us a height of approximately 26.3 meters.
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Therefore, Virginia has to fly approximately 26.3 meters until she lands. This is rounded to the nearest tenth.
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