The distance in miles from the airport that a plane should begin descending, divided by 3, equals the plane's height above the ground in thousands of feet. a plane began descending 45 miles from the airport. use the equation to find how high the plane was flying when the descent began.

15 thousands of feet = 15,000 feet

Step-by-step explanation:

We have the expression: "the distance in miles from the airport that a plane should begin descending divided by 3, equals the plane's height above the ground in thousands of feet". This phrase is telling us that if we divide the distance of the plane from the airport in miles by 3 we will get the height of the plane above the ground in thousands of feet.

So we can write the equation:

x/3 = h

where:

x is the distance in miles from the airport that a plane should begin descending in miles

h is the height above the ground in thousands of feet

The problem tells us that a plane began descending 45 miles from the airport, so we have to substitute in the equation:

45/3 = h

h = 15 thousands of feet

h= 15,000 feet.

We don't have to do any conversions because the problem tells us that the answer will be in thousands of feet.