SOLUTION: Word problems are difficult for me. Here is example. Driving down a mountain, Bob finds that he has descended 1800 ft. in elevation by the time he is 3.25 mi. horizontally away f

Algebra ->  Linear-equations -> SOLUTION: Word problems are difficult for me. Here is example. Driving down a mountain, Bob finds that he has descended 1800 ft. in elevation by the time he is 3.25 mi. horizontally away f      Log On


   

Question 72302: Word problems are difficult for me. Here is example. Driving down a mountain, Bob finds that he has descended 1800 ft. in elevation by the time he is 3.25 mi. horizontally away from the top of the mountain. Find the slope of his descent to the nearest hundredth.
Found 2 solutions by checkley75, josmiceli:
Answer by checkley75(3666) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Using this information you should construct a triangle & using the graphing technique:
Plot the 1800 feet on the y axis (0,1800) now plot the 3.25 miles on the x axis (3.25*5280,0)or(17160,0).
now calculate the slope od a line through these two points thus:
(y2-y1)/(x1-x2)
(1800-0)/(0-17160)
1800/17600
-.10 is the slope.

Answer by josmiceli(19441) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Picture a right triangle. The longest leg is the height of the mountain.
The horizontal distance away from the top is the leg that is perpendicular
to the height.
First convert the miles to feet
(5280 ft/mile)(3.25 miles) = 17160 ft
The slope is (vertical/horizontal)
slope = 1800 / 17160
slope = .10