Question

a building that is 250 feet cast a shadow 40 feet long. Find the angle of elevation to the nearest tenth of a degree of the sun at this time?

Answer 1

apply tangent to get the value of theta....

Answer 2

how would i set up the equation

Answer 3

well u should know the trigonometry ratios....

since \[\tan \theta = \frac{ perpendicula }{ base }\]

in present case we have perpendicular 250ft & base = 40ft

put these values..you will get ur answer

Answer 4

okay well i dont use perpendicular and base i go by opposite and adjacent!

Answer 5

well in that case

\[\tan \theta = \frac{ opposite }{ adjacent }\]

and since adjacent is next to theta which is 40ft while opposite is opposite to the angle theta which is 250ft..

put these values and solve u will get ur answer

Answer 6

\[\tan 40/250\]

Answer 7

is that what i should plug into the calculator

Answer 8

nope ...since adjacent is that side which is next to theta so it means in present case adjacent = 40ft while opposite is 250ft

so equation should be

\[\tan \theta = \frac{ 250 }{ 40 }\]

Answer 9

i got 0.109.... which i don't think is correct

Answer 10

and for finding the value of theta u should take the inverse...
then equation will become

\[\theta = \tan^{-1} \frac{ 250 }{ 40 }\]

Answer 11

ur answer is wrong because ur taking the tan of (250/40)...while u should take the tan inverse of (250/40)...

Answer 12

like i have mentioned above...

Answer 13

i did it again and got 80.9097.....

Answer 14

yup...this is the right answer..

Answer 15

okay thank you

Answer 16

n.p