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Problem B and Solution
Up and Down

Problem

Sea level is the level of the sea’s surface along a coast of land; it is often taken as the midpoint between average low and high tide levels. The elevation of a location is measured as its vertical distance above or below sea level.

  1. The table shows some geographical locations as well as their elevation. List the locations in order from highest elevation to lowest elevation.

    Location Elevation
    New Orleans, Louisiana, USA \(2\,\)m above sea level
    Mount Fuji, Japan \(3776\,\)m above sea level
    Caspian Sea, Eastern Europe \(28\,\)m below sea level
    Badwater Basin, Death Valley, California, USA \(86\,\)m below sea level
    Laguna del Carbón, Argentina (lowest point in the Americas) \(105\,\)m below sea level
    Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania \(5895\,\)m above sea level
    Veryovkina Cave entrance, Abkhazia (deepest known cave) \(2285\,\)m above sea level
    Ryfast Tunnel, Norway \(292\,\)m below sea level
    Lake Assal, Djibouti \(155\,\)m below sea level
    The Matterhorn, a mountain in the Alps \(4478\,\)m above sea level

  2. The highest point on Earth is Mount Everest, which is approximately \(8849\) m above sea level. The lowest land point on Earth is the Dead Sea, which is \(431\) m below sea level. The nearby Sea of Galilee is \(214\) m below sea level.

    In the number lines below, we have written elevations above sea level as positive numbers \((+)\) and elevations below sea level as negative numbers \((-)\). Place the locations from the table in their approximate positions on the number lines.

    Two vertical number lines. On the first number line, there is a tick mark at the bottom labelled sea level (0 m), and tick mark at the top labelled Mount Everest (plus 8849 m). On the second line, there is a tick mark at the top labelled sea level (0 m), a tick mark at the bottom labelled Dead Sea (minus 431 m), and a tick mark just above the middle of the number line labelled Sea of Galilee (minus 214 m).

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Solution

  1. The locations are listed below in order from highest elevation to lowest elevation. Elevations above sea level are written as positive numbers \((+)\) and elevations below sea level are written as negative numbers \((-)\).

    Mount Kilimanjaro (\(+5895\) m), The Matterhorn (\(+4478\) m), Mount Fuji (\(+3776\) m), Veryovkina Cave (\(+2285\) m), New Orleans (\(+2\) m), Caspian Sea (\(-28\) m), Badwater Basin (\(-86\) m), Laguna del Carbón (\(-105\) m), Lake Assal (\(-155\) m), Ryfast Tunnel (\(-292\) m)

  2. The completed number lines are shown below. Note that New Orleans is not distinguishable from sea level on the number line because it is so much closer to sea level than to any of the other locations above sea level.

    Five locations are placed between sea level and Mount Everest as follows: The Matterhorn is placed near the middle. Starting at the bottom, the locations of New Orleans, Veryovkina Cave, and Mount Fuji are placed between sea level and The Matterhorn, and Mount Kilimanjaro is placed above The Matterhorn. One location, Ryfast Tunnel, is placed between the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee. Four locations are placed between the Sea of Galilee and sea level. Starting from the Sea of Galilee and moving upwards, these locations are Lake Assal, Laguna Assal, Badwater Basin, and Caspian Sea.

Extension:

Add scales to the number lines you drew in part (b). You will need to use different scales for each number line because the distance between Mount Everest and sea level is much larger than the distance between sea level and the Dead Sea.