Precalculus (6th Edition) Blitzer

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0-13446-914-3
ISBN 13: 978-0-13446-914-0

Chapter 9 - Section 9.6 - Conic Sections in Polar Coordinates - Exercise Set - Page 1031: 32

Answer

$4060$ miles and $100$ miles

Work Step by Step

We have $ r=\dfrac{4090.76}{1-0.0076 \cos \theta}$ or, $ r=\dfrac{4090.76}{1-0.0076 \cos (\pi)}$ (we use $\theta=\pi$ for the minimum distance from the center of the Earth.) or, $ r =\dfrac{4090.76}{1+0.0076}\approx 4060$ miles We subtract the average radius of the Earth to get the distance from the surface of the Earth: $4060-3960=100$ miles
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