Trig buffs a question I've been pondering...

[gabemcg]

Just curious (i.e. this isn't homework or anything)

If I watch a plane fly from one horizon to the other (or treeline to treeline as the case may be) and it flys directly over my head, how far have I watched it go?

Obviously the variables in this equation would be

a. how high was the plane flying?

--lets just say 1 mile (5280ft)

b. what elevation am I at?

--lets say I'm not standing on a mountain or anything, maybe 250 feet above sea level

 

[gabemcg]

anyone?

 

[chuckywang]

You watched it go a semicircle.

 

[gabemcg]

Originally posted by: chuckywang
You watched it go a semicircle.

shure, but I have no clue how to do the math (algebra 3= higest level of math)

anyone know how to do it?

 

[white]

it would also depend on whether it was flying east to west or west to east, the latitude of the plane's flight whether it kept the same latitude throughout its flight and the plane's airspeed.

 

[Indolent]

this would be an arclength problem, which is more calculus than trig

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: chuckywang
You watched it go a semicircle.

no, it was in a rather flat arc, not a semicircle.

 

[silverpig]

Just approximate it as a line. How far away can you see something 1 mile up before it disappears over the horizon? x2 = answer.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: silverpig
Just approximate it as a line. How far away can you see something 1 mile up before it disappears over the horizon? x2 = answer.

That takes all the fun out of it.

http://www.wolfram.demon.co.uk/rp_horizon_distance.html

That gives you a lot of what you need.

Viper GTS