balloon question

Question

a balloon was 65 feet to the right of where it was tied and 20 feet above the ground. What could be the slope of the line between the balloon and the point where it was tied?

Answer 1

Melissa,

Slope = Δy/Δx or rise/run.  Consider where the balloon was tied to be x = 0. The balloon is 65 ft to the right of where it was tied, so now x = 65 ft. The horizontal change or run = 65 ft. Given that the ground is y = 0, when the balloon is at 20 ft, the vertical change or rise = 20 ft. so rise/run = 20 ft/65 ft = 0.308 or about 0.31.