High School

The ski slope known as the Devil's Hill has an elevation from the ground of 45 meters. If the distance down the slope is 1500 meters, what is the altitude of the hill?

A. 1060.66 meters
B. 1086.39 meters
C. 1104.62 meters
D. 1156.19 meters

Answer :

Final answer:

To calculate the altitude of the hill, we apply the Pythagorean Theorem, treating the elevation and the slope distance as the legs of a right-angled triangle. Upon calculating, we find that the altitude is 1500.67 meters, which doesn't match any of the provided choices, indicating a potential error in the question.

Explanation:

The question concerns the relationship between the elevation, the slope distance, and the altitude of a hill. These concepts can be addressed using the Pythagorean Theorem for right-angled triangles.

Given the elevation from the ground of 45 meters and the distance down the slope of 1500 meters, these values represent the two legs of a right-angled triangle, with the altitude of the hill being the hypotenuse.

The application of the Pythagorean Theorem (a² + b² = c²) allows for the calculation of the hill's altitude (c).

Since we're looking for the hypotenuse, we rearrange the theorem to c = √(a² + b²), where a is the elevation from the ground, and b is the distance down the slope. To find the altitude of the hill:

Altitude (c) = √(45² + 1500²) = √(2025 + 2250000) = √(2252025) = 1500.67 meters

It appears there might have been a misunderstanding or typographical error in the choices provided, as they don't match the calculated altitude.