Asked by Chuck Bass

Kara and Zach are standing 350 ft apart and see a hot air balloon floating between them in the sky. They measure angles of elevation of 46° and 63°, respectively. What is the distance between Kara and the balloon?

329.8 ft

266.3 ft

331.9 ft

61.6 ft

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Let x be the horizontal distance from Kara to the balloon and h its height. Then
tan 46° = h/x and tan 63° = h/(350 − x).
So x tan46 = (350 − x) tan63 ⇒ x = 350·tan63/(tan46 + tan63) ≈ 228.9 ft.

The line-of-sight distance from Kara to the balloon is
d = sqrt(x^2 + h^2) = x / cos46° ≈ 228.9 / cos46° ≈ 329.8 ft.

Answer: 329.8 ft.