A highway patrol plane is ﬂying 1 mile above a long, straight road, with constant
ground speed of 120 m.p.h. Using radar, the pilot detects a car whose distance
from the plane is 1.5 miles and decreasing at a rate of 136 m.p.h. How fast is the
car traveling along the highway? (Hint: You may give an exact answer, or use the
fact that√5 ≈ 2.2.)
I want to check my work , and rough diagram would be nice
Taken from mit ocw single variable calculus final exam number 6.

Question

A highway patrol plane is ﬂying 1 mile above a long, straight road, with constant
ground speed of 120 m.p.h. Using radar, the pilot detects a car whose distance
from the plane is 1.5 miles and decreasing at a rate of 136 m.p.h. How fast is the
car traveling along the highway? (Hint: You may give an exact answer, or use the
fact that√5 ≈ 2.2.)
I want to check my work , and rough diagram would be nice
Taken from mit ocw single variable calculus final exam number 6.

anonymous · Answer

this is how I tried to visualize it http://snag.gy/sMtmt.jpg

anonymous · Answer

What decreases at a rate of 136 mph is the distance between the patrol and the car, not the distance between the car and the vertical of the patrol over the ground. Your graphical visualization is not ok