CHICAGO TO BOMBAY

Problem

A plane will fly non-stop from Chicago, IL to Bombay, India taking the shortest route. Assuming that the Earth is a sphere of radius 3960 miles (and the height of the plane is negligible) and the plane flies at a speed of 550 miles per hour

1. How long will the trip take?
2. Will the path of the plane take it north or south of Baghdad? How many miles north or south of Baghdad is the flight path?
3. What will be the compass heading of the plane during the trip?
4. Using Maple, in the same plot, show clearly the earth, the flight path, the location of Chicago, Bombay, Baghdad, Madrid.

Suggestions

• You will need the latitude and longitude of the cities mentioned.
• You will need to set up a convenient three dimensional coordinate axes for the earth.

 
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