SOLUTION: The Radius of the Earth is 3960 miles and 1 mile = 5280 feet. The deck of a ship is 100 feet above sea level. How far can you see from the deck? I am not sure where to start. We

Question 95818: The Radius of the Earth is 3960 miles and 1 mile = 5280 feet. The deck of a ship is 100 feet above sea level. How far can you see from the deck?
I am not sure where to start. We were working with right triangles in my trigonometry class... I just am not sure how to solve this at all. Thanks for the help.
Answer by scott8148(6628) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
when you stand on the deck, your line of sight to the horizon (distance you can see) is tangent to the circumference of the Earth

a radius of the Earth is perpendicular to this tangent ... this radius and your line of sight are 2 sides of a right triangle

the third side (which is the hypotenuse) is a radius of the Earth plus the 100 foot height of the deck

by Pythagoras, x^2+(3960*5280)^2=((3960*5280)+100)^2 ... using a calculator, x is approximately 64667 ft or 12.25 mi
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