Question

A plane is taking off at a 15° angle from a horizontal runway. When the altitude of the plane is 250 feet, apply trigonometric functions and the Pythagorean Theorem to find x, the horizontal distance the plane has flown.
Round the answer to the nearest whole number.

Answer 1

To find the horizontal distance the plane has flown, we can use the tangent function.

tan(15°) = opp/adj
tan(15°) = 250/x

Solving for x, we get:
x = 250/tan(15°)
x ≈ 953 feet

Therefore, the horizontal distance the plane has flown is approximately 953 feet.