Question

The orbit of the planet Venus is nearly circular. An astronomer develops a model for the orbit in which the sun has coordinates S(0, 0), the circular orbit of Venus passes through V(41, 53), and each unit of the coordinate plane represents 1 million miles. To the nearest million miles, how far is Venus from the sun? Enter the equation for the circular orbit of Venus.

Answer 1

Since the Venus orbits round the sun, the sun is the center of the circular path of the revolution of the planet, Venus.

Thus, the distance of the planet, Venus fron the sun is given by the distance between the points (0, 0) and (41, 53).

Recall that the distance between two points $(x_1, y_1)$ and $(x_2, y_2)$ is given by $d= \sqrt{(x_2-x_1)^2+(y_2-y_1)^2}$

Thus, the distance between the points (0, 0) and (41, 53) is given by:

$d= \sqrt{(41-0)^2+(53-0)^2} \\ \\ = \sqrt{41^2+53^2} = \sqrt{1,681+2,809} \\ \\ = \sqrt{4,490} =67 \ units$

Given that each unit of the plane represents 1 million miles, therefore, the distance from the sun to the Venus is 67 million miles.