Question

Find the distance between the cities. Assume that Earth is a sphere of radius 4000 miles and that the cities are on the same longitude (one city is due north of the other). (Round your answer to one decimal place.)

Answer 1

Answer: 20231.75km

Explanation: Assuming the earth is a sphere with a radius r, the formulae for calculating the distance between 2 points on the earth surface is given as

$l=\frac{\pi r}{180} *\alpha$

l = distance between two points on the earth surface (km)

π = 22/7

r = radius of the earth = 4000miles =6437.376 km ( we will be using kilometer because that is the SI unit for distance)

α = angle between the two cities on the earth surface. For our question, α=180 because one of the city is north and the second city is in the opposite direction (due north of the first)

By slotting in the parameters into the foemulae, we have that

$l = \frac{\frac{22}{7} * 6437.376 }{180} * 180 \\\\l={\frac{22}{7} * 6437.376\\\\\\l=20231.751km$