Question

The figure shows the elliptical orbit of Mercury, whose minimum distance to the Sun is 29 million miles and whose maximum distance to the Sun is 43 million miles. According to Kepler's laws, the average distance of a planet to the Sun is equal to half the length of the orbit's major axis. The average distance of Mercury to the Sun is _____ million miles. (Enter only the number.)

Answer 1

The minimum distance between Mercury and the sun is 29 million miles.
The maximum distance between Mercury and the sun is 43 million miles.
Therefore, the length of the orbit's major axis is
29 + 43 = 72 million miles
and the average distance is
72/2 = 36 million miles