Question

Alice and Bob live $10$ miles apart. One day Alice looks due north from her house and sees an airplane. At the same time Bob looks due west from his house and sees the same airplane. The angle of elevation of the airplane is $30^\circ$ from Alice's position and $60^\circ$ from Bob's position. Which of the following is closest to the airplane's altitude, in miles?

$3.5$

$4$

$4.5$

$5$

$5.5$

Solution:

Let the airplane be at $C,$ directly above point $D$ on the ground at altitude $h.$ Triangles $ACD$ and $BCD$ are $30$ - $60$ - $90$ right triangles, so $AD=\sqrt3\,h$ and $BD=\dfrac{h}{\sqrt3}.$ Since Alice looks north and Bob looks west, $\angle ADB=90^\circ,$ so $AD^2+BD^2=AB^2=100.$ Then $3h^2+\dfrac{h^2}{3}=\dfrac{10h^2}{3}=100,$ giving $h=\sqrt{30}\approx5.48,$ closest to $5.5.$

Thus, the correct answer is E.

2016 AMC 12B Problem 13

Solution:

Problem 13 in Other Years