SOLUTION: An airplane is flying 0.75 miles above the ground. If the pilot must begin a 4� descent to an airport runway, how far is the airplane from the beginning of the runway ( in ground d

Question 142612: An airplane is flying 0.75 miles above the ground. If the pilot must begin a 4� descent to an airport runway, how far is the airplane from the beginning of the runway ( in ground distance) to the nearest tenth of a mile. I sent this problem in twice and no one helped me so can someone please help me out? Thanks
Answer by Earlsdon(6294) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
You can use the Tangent function to solve this problem.
Imagine a right triangle whose height (h) represents the altitude of the aeroplane (0.75 miles) and whose base repesents the ground distance from the present position of the plane (on the ground) to the start of the airport runway (x miles).
The 4 degree descent is the angle between the base and the hypotenuse of the right triangle.
The tangent of the 4 degree-angle is given by h/x, or:
Substituting h = 0.75 and tan of 4 degrees = 0.07, then...

miles.
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