A 59 meter lighthouse spots a distress signal from a sailboat 151 meters from the base of the lighthouse. What is the angle of depression, to the nearest degree, from the lighthouse to the sailboat?

Question

anonymous · Answer

use trig. height of lighthouse will be ur base or perpendicular...

anonymous · Answer

Can you extrapolate a bit more?

dumbcow · Answer

It makes a right triangle, with the line from the top of lighthouse to the boat as the hypotenuse.
Find the angle between that line and the lighthouse.
Use tan function, tan = opp/adj

anonymous · Answer

The angle of depression from the lighthouse is the same as the angle of elevation from the sailboat:$$\text{ArcTan}\left[\frac{59}{151}\right]=21^{\circ} $$

anonymous · Answer

Thank you