Question

Moscow, the capital city of Russia, is at 37.62 degrees longitude and 55.75 degrees latitude. Brasilia, the capital city of Brazil, is at -47.87 degrees longitude and -15.8 degrees latitude.Complete the following steps to learn more about the distance between the two cities. Part AWrite an expression to find the distance (in degrees) between the longitude lines of Moscow and Brasilia. Use absolute value in your expression.

Answer 1

The distance between two positions with longitudes A and B is given by ||A| - |B|| if the two positions are at the same side of the meridian (0 degrees longitude) and |A| + |B| if both positions are at different sides of the meridian.

Given that Moscow is at 37.62 degrees longitude and Brasilia is at -47.87 degrees longitude, thus the two cities are at different sides of the meridian.

Therefore, the distance (in degrees) between the longitude lines of Moscow and Brasilia is |37.62| + |-47.87| = 37.62 + 47.87 = 85.49