Question

A drone is flying at an altitude of 120 feet above the ground. It needs to descend to deliver a package to a specific spot 25 feet above the ground. The drone takes 8.4 seconds to make it's descent. Interpret the quotient to describe how quickly the drone is losing altitude.

Answer 1

To determine how quickly the drone is losing altitude, we first need to calculate the total altitude it needs to descend.

1. **Initial altitude**: 120 feet
2. **Target altitude**: 25 feet
3. **Altitude decrease**:
\[
120 \text{ feet} - 25 \text{ feet} = 95 \text{ feet}
\]

The drone needs to descend a total of 95 feet.

Now, we can find the rate at which the drone is losing altitude by dividing the total altitude decrease by the time taken to descend.

4. **Time of descent**: 8.4 seconds
5. **Rate of altitude loss**:
\[
\frac{95 \text{ feet}}{8.4 \text{ seconds}} \approx 11.31 \text{ feet per second}
\]

Therefore, the drone is losing altitude at a rate of approximately 11.31 feet per second during its descent. This quotient represents how quickly the drone descends to reach the target altitude.