Question

George, who is 6 ft tall, looks up at an 80 ft. building. He is 48 ft. from the building. As George looks up at the building to the peak, what is his angle of sight?

Answer 1

i suggest drawing a picture first

Answer 2

I was drawing the picture right now.

Answer 3

draw a diagram



find the angle x using the diagram

Answer 4

a note about your picture

the guy's eyes are on the top and the bottom

Answer 5

Wouldn't 6 be on the other side

Answer 6

better to use campbell's drawing, and yes technically the guy should be on the other side
but his picture perfectly explains the problem

Answer 7

it doesn't make a huge difference... its just that the height if 80 - 6 ft..

and you are finding the angle looking up.. so its x

Answer 8

so how would i find x?

Answer 9

well do you knowyour trig ratios..?

Answer 10

Uhhh.. i dont think so.. but i was thinking that x=45 idk if im wrong

Answer 11

ok... before you start guessing to you know about

Sin, Cos and Tan..?

Answer 12

oh those.. sin=o/h cos=a/h tan=o/a

Answer 13

thats correct... you need one of them to solve this problem...

so look at the triangle and decide which you would use..

Answer 14

you have measurements on the opposite and adjacent sides

Answer 15

tan

Answer 16

ok... so to set up the equation you have

\[\tan(x) = \frac{76}{48}\]

Answer 17

so would i multiply tan or 76/48 on eachside

Answer 18

nope you need to find the arctan or

\[\tan^{-1}\]

so

\[x = \arctan(\frac{76}{48})\]

do you have a calculator...

Answer 19

yes

Answer 20

ok... so you will probably have to press shift or 2nd

then tan

and enter 76/48

to get the angle measure

Answer 21

okay let me try.

Answer 22

i keep getting .02

Answer 23

ok... use this online calculator

and enter

2nd

tan

76/48)

then press equal

Answer 24

here is the link

http://web2.0calc.com/