3/24/08 - Problem of the Week (Problems)

Let's Go Fly A Kite - The Problems
March 24, 2008

Jordana is going to make a kite that she can fly during Washington DC’s Smithsonian Kite Festival. She starts by making a pattern on large graph paper. The equations for the lines that enclose/outline the kite are y = (2/3)x + 30, y = (-2/3)x + 50, y = -2x + 30 and y = 2x – 30. What is the area, in square units, of Jordana’s quadrilateral kite pattern?

How long is the perimeter of the kite? Express your answer in simplest radical form.

After constructing her kite, Jordana is highly disappointed to find that it isn’t flying very well. She quickly realizes that she forgot to add a tail for drag (a kite’s tail helps stabilize it and keeps it sailing into the wind.) The length of the tail that Jordana makes is 1.5 times the average length of the kite’s diagonals. How long, in units, is the tail Jordana creates for her kite? Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest tenth.

Ahhh… at last her kite is flying beautifully! Eugene, Jordana’s friend, is standing 60 yards away from her and is very impressed as the kite flies directly over him. How high is the kite flying when it passes directly over Eugene if Jordana has let out 100 yards of string?


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