SOLUTION: #80 Air Traffic Control. An air traffic controller spots two planes at the same altitude flying toward each other. Their flight paths form a right angle at point P. One plae is 15

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Question 182170This question is from textbook College Algebra The Graphing Approach
: #80
Air Traffic Control. An air traffic controller spots two planes at the same altitude flying toward each other. Their flight paths form a right angle at point P. One plae is 150 miles from point P and is moving at 450 miles per hour. The other plane is 200 miles from point P and is moving at 450 miles per hour. Write the distance x between the planes as a function of time t.
Thanks for your help.
This question is from textbook College Algebra The Graphing Approach

Answer by vleith(2983) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Assume the two planes are heading 'towards P'. For now, let's not get too wound up about the x and y aspects. We'll always 'know' the two places are at right angles to each other.
First let's create two equations that represent the 'location' of each plane.
Plane1Location = 150 - 450(t) (on the x axis)
Place2Location = 200 - 450(t) (on the y axis)
The distance between them ends up being the hypotenuse of the triangle with sides that are represented by Plane1Location and Place2Location.
c%5E2+=+a%5E2+%2B+b%5E2
%28c%28t%29%29%5E2+=+%28150-450t%29%5E2+%2B+%28200-450t%29%5E2
Expand the right side, simplify and the take the square root to get the function c(t) over time.