How could you test the hypothesis that elephants interpreted the ground signal as being farther away than the air signal?

To test the hypothesis that elephants interpreted the ground signal as being farther away the air signal is to see how fast they react by high and low frequency sounds. This however can be done by creating two waves, one in the air and one on the ground at the same time. One of them for the elephant to get closer and another for the elephants to move away. The reaction of the animal is then observed and via the first sound from one of them

A hypothesis is an assumption, an idea that is proposed for the sake of argument so that it can be tested to see if it might be true.

In non-scientific use, hypothesis and theory are often used interchangeably.

Learn more about hypothesis:

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One way to test the hypothesis is to create two waves, one in the air and one on the ground at the same time. One of them for the elephant to get closer and another for the elephants to move away. Observe the reaction of the animal and with this we know which sound came first.

Explanation:

This hypothesis is based on the fact that the speed of sound in air is v = 343 m / s with a small variation with temperature.

The speed of sound in solid soil is an average of the speed of its constituent media, giving values between

 wood      3900 m / s

 concrete 4000 m / s

 fabrics     1540 m / s

 earth       5000 m / s wave S

 ground    7000 m / s P wave

we can see that the speed on solid earth is an order of magnitude greater than in air.

One way to test the hypothesis is to create two waves, one in the air and one on the ground at the same time. One of them for the elephant to get closer and another for the elephants to move away. Observe the reaction of the animal and with this we know which sound came first.

From the initial information, the wave going through the ground should arrive first.

see the picture for the vector

the magnitude of the vector by pythagorean theorem

r = √( (-10)^2 + (3)^2 ) = √109

magnitude = √109 units

the direction angle between vector and x-axis is

tan^(-1)(3/10) = 16.699

so the direction is approximately 16.7 degrees north of west