Question

A pilot can see the runway she is about to land on directly ahead. When looking at each end of the runway, the angles of depression are 45° and 42°. If the airplane is 1,500 ft. off the ground, how long is the runway?
Create an equation to model the problem. Then solve the equation.

Answer 1

First, we get the length of the runway in which the pilot had seen a 45° by using the trigonometric formula of tangent. 
                                    tan 45° = 1,500 / x
The value of x from the equation is 1500 ft. 
We do the same for the 42°
                                   tan 42° = 1,500 / y
The value of y is equal to 1665.92 ft. To determine the length of the runway, we subtract the lengths calculated and this will give us an answer of 165.92 ft. 

Answer 2

A pilot can see the runway she is about to land on directly ahead. When looking at each end of the runway, the angles of depression are 45° and 42°. If the airplane is 1,500 ft. off the ground, how long is the runway?
Create an equation to model the problem. Then solve the equation.


165.92 ft.