im very confused

Question

in a mountain range of California. the percent of moisture that falls as snow rather than rain can be approximated by the function p(h)=78 ln(h)-613, where h is the altitude in feet and p(h) is the percent of an annual snow fall at the altitude h. use the function to approximate the amount of snow at altitudes 3000 feet and 5000 feet

Answer 1

No worries, this problem is worded a bit strangely. I'll clarify a few things from the problem statement and provide it's solution:

Given: p(h) = 78 ln(h) - 613, where h is altitude and p(h) is the approximate percent of an annual snow fall

h1 = 3000 ft

h2 = 5000 ft

Problem: Approximate the amount of snow at altitudes 3000 feet and 5000 feet.

In other words, find p1(3000) and p2(5000).

I think you can solve it from here, so I'd recommend doing so before reviewing my solution...

p1(3000) = 78 ln(3000) - 613 = 11.49667028

p1 = 11.5 % of approximate annual snowfall at an altitude of 3000 ft.

p2(5000) = 78 ln(5000) - 613 = 51.34106893

p2 = 51.3 % of approximate annual snowfall at an altitude of 5000 ft.

About a 40% increase in annual snowfall, 2000 ft further up the mountain; almost interesting enough to make me visit Cali.

Hope this helps! Stop by for tutoring sometime.

Michael