Sofia wraps a long string around the equator of the earth, pulling it snug. If the earth were a perfect sphere, the string would be touching the ground all along its length. Suddenly, Sofia stretches the string by 2π inches. If the looser string were now pulled taut into a circle above the equator, how many inches above the ground would it be, on the average?
I don't even know where to start with this.
$C_1= 2\pi r_1$ new circumference equals to $C_2 = (C_1 + 2 \pi) = 2 \pi r_2$ just as David has done then replace $C_1$ with $2\pi r_1$ so the equation becomes $2\pi r_1 + 2 \pi = 2 \pi r_2$ re arranging yeilds $2\pi = 2\pi(r_2 - r_1)$ the deviding both sides by $2\pi$ gets us $(r_2 - r_1) = 1 $ so the answer is 1 inch.