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Expert: - 1/25/2009


Question
Latasha and Markisha are flying kites on a windy spring day. Latasha has released 250 feet of string and Markisha has released 225 feet of string. The angle that Latasha's kite string makes with the horizontal is 35 degrees. the angle that Markisha's kite sting makes with the horizontal is 42 degrees. What kite is higher and by how much?

Answer
The length of the string is the hypoteneuse of a triangle.

We want the far side, so a sin(x) is involved.
sin(x)=a/c where a is the far side an c is the hypoteneuse.

We are interested in which a is longer, so for both problems,
a = c sin(x).

The two values for c are c1 = 250 and c2 = 225.
The two values for x are x1 = 35 degrees and x2 = 42 degrees.

Use c1, x1 to find a1.
Use c2, x2 to find a2.

Find out which a is larger.

Subtract off the other a to see the difference in height.

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