Please help! The pilot of an airplane calculates that the angler of depression to a distant flashing beacon on the ground ahead is 40 degrees. The pilot of a second airplane flying 600ft above the first calculates the angle of depression to the same beacon to be 65 degrees. What is the altitude of the first airplane?

Neither is the answer

Ok here we go ..there are plenty of ways to solve such math problems but we will go for the smartest and easiest ..5x+2y=7  -2x+6y=9we rearrange them into the following ..by multiplying the 1st equation by 2 it becomes 10x + 4y = 14we rearrange it and so it becomes 10x = 14 - 4yas for the second equation we multiply it by 5 and rearrange it so it becomes as to the following ..-10x + 30y = 45rearranging so 10x = 30y -45now 10x equals both 14 - 4y and 30y -45so   14 - 4y = 30y -4531 = 26yy= 31/26 = 1.19 or around 1.2so by now we can calculate x easily as  -2x+6y=9so 2x = 6y -9 = 6 * 31/26 - 9 = -1.84  then x = - 0.92 or around -0.9best luck!

The answer would be 54.2%.