Question

The satellite is 500 miles above the earth. The angle of elevation is 28 degrees. How far does the signal travel to get to the satellite?

Answer 1

If we make the (invalid) assumption that the earth is flat then approximately `1065` miles.

Explanation:

`sin(28^circ)= (500" miles")/(d" miles")`

`rArr d" miles" = (500" miles")/(sin(28^circ))~~1065.027234" miles"` (using a calculator)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A more accurate image (although certainly not to scale) would look more like:

Where the angle of elevation is measured relative to a tangent at the point on the earth's surface,
which would be a different tangential line from the one used to measure the satellite's height.