Question

A skateboarding ramp is 12in. High and rises at an angle of 17°. How long is the base of the ramp? Round to the nearest inch.

Answer 1

Basically,
So you have to use trigonometry to solve for the base of it.
HINT: Remember SOH-CAH-TOA

Answer 2

can u help me do it? thats the part i dont get..:/

Answer 3

Okay, so, you have an angle (17 degrees) and the length of the side that is opposite to it and the value that you want is that of the side adjacent to the angle. So you want to use the trigonometric operation tan. So basically,\[\tan(17)=12/x\] Then just solve for x.

Answer 4

how do u solve for X?

Answer 5

Take the arctangent of both sides

Answer 6

which would be what?

Answer 7

Wow, nevermind, no need to take the arctangent of anything, sorry :s. Just plug tan(17) into your calculator then divide 12 by that value.

Answer 8

so it equals 54.78?

Answer 9

and thats my answer?

Answer 10

The answer is 39.25, is your calculator in degrees?

Answer 11

umm.. no,.. thanks!

Answer 12

When solving these equations (tan17 = 12/x), you can just divide by 12 on each side. But remember, when you do this, the integer is the numerator and your trig function is the denominator.
So, it should look like 12/tan17 = x
x = 39.25