Plane Flying Overhead

You are standing outside in the sunshine. An airplane at 3000 feet is going to fly directly over your head in a few minutes. It is traveling 200 mph. You don’t notice it until you hear it, and the instant you hear it you spot it at x degrees above the horizon. However, the sound you hear came from the plane somewhat earlier, when it was 20° above the horizon. Take the speed of sound at 1100 ft/sec, find x, the angle at which you looked up and saw the plane.

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Square and Triangles Area

In this diagram, not drawn to scale, figures I and III are equilateral triangular regions with areas of 32√3 and 8√3 square inches, respectively. Figure II is a square region with area 32 square inches. Let the length of segment AD be decreased by 12.5% of itself, while the lengths of AB and CD remain unchanged. What’s the percent decrease in the area of the square?

  1. 12.5
  2. 25
  3. 50
  4. 75
  5. 87.5

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Triangular Garden Bed, Bandstand

A triangular garden bed is going to be installed near the bandstand in the Milan town square. The high school math club has designed it. It is going to have an obtuse angle, and the three sides of the triangle are whole numbers (measured in yards). The two short sides of the triangle are 3 yards and 4 yards. How long is the longest side?

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