What was the initial elevation of a plane if after descending 1.9 miles it was at an elevation of 7.05 mile?

Question

254 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2018-02-08T18:14:38

See a solution process below:

The formula for calculating change in elevation is:

#s + c = e#

Where,

#s# is the starting elevation: what we are solving for in this problem.

#c# is the change in elevation: -1.9 miles for this problem. It is a negative number because we are told the airplane descends.

#e# is the ending elevation: 7.05 miles for this problem.

Substituting and solving for #s# gives:

#s + (-1.9" miles") = 7.05" miles"#

#s - 1.9" miles" = 7.05" miles"#

#s - 1.9" miles" + color(red)(1.9" miles") = 7.05" miles" + color(red)(1.9" miles")#

#s - 0 = (7.05 + color(red)(1.9))" miles"#

#s = 8.95" miles"#

The airplanes initial elevation was 8.95 miles.