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You are flying in a hot air balloon about 1.2 miles above the ground. Find the measure of the arc that represents the part of Earth you can see. Round your answer to the nearest tenth. (The radius of Earth is about 4000 miles)

 Mar 25, 2021
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We will have  a right  triangle  that is  formed  by a hypotenuse of  4001.2  miles, a leg  of  4000 miles  and   the  other  leg  = sqrt [ 4001.2^2   - 4000^2]...(this  leg  =  the  greatest distance you can see from the  balloon to the point  where this leg is tangent to the Earth's  circumference )

 

The arc  measure  can  be  found  as

 

arctan  ( sqrt ( 4001.2^2 - 4000^2 )  /  4000)  ≈  1.4°

 

[This doesn't sond like much because  your  height above  the Earth's surface isn't very great  ]

 

 

cool cool cool

 Mar 25, 2021

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