A commercial jet liner hits an air pocket and drops 250 feet. After climbing 127 ​feet, it drops another 142feet. What is its overall vertical​ change?

Question

A commercial jet liner hits an air pocket and drops 250 feet. After climbing 127 ​feet, it drops another 142feet. What is its overall vertical​ change?

Answer 1

Hello Nate,

Climbs count as POSITIVE while drops count as NEGATIVE. Therefore:

1. "A commercial jet liner hits an air pocket and drops 250 feet" means -250
2. "After climbing 127 ​feet" means +127
3. "it drops another 142feet" means -142

Putting all that together to find the overall vertical change = -250 + 127 - 142 = -265 feet

Cheers.