Question

are there solutions for 18.01 problem sets?. I'm having trouble understanding the question.(problem set 1, #2). What is L and what is h in the problem? :(

Answer 1

The planet quirk is flat. GPS satellites hover over Quirk at an altitude of 20,000km. See how accurately you can estimate the distance L from the point directly below the satellite to a point on the planet surface knowing the distance h from the satellite to the point on the surface in two cases.
a) Use a calculator to compute deltaL/deltah for h = h0+deltah = 25,000+deltah, and deltah = 1, 1/10, 1/100
Write an estimate for L in the form
|L-L0| =|deltaL| <= C|deltah|
choosing the simplest round number C that works for all three cases.