Question

I'll give you a medal**
Please Help! I'm Stuck on this & don't understand Trigonometry as all! It's urgent I get this answered... Please help.
1) Outdoor steps generally require larger landings and lower pitches. A particular outdoor staircase climbs a total vertical elevation of 15 feet from the road level to the front entrance of a building. If the angle of elevation is to be 31 degrees and the landing of each step is to be 20 inches, calculate the following (you must show all work to receive full credit):


a) What is the vertical rise per step? (In inches rounded to the nearest whole inch)

Answer 1

do you know how many steps?

Answer 2

@StudyGurl14 this is the only diagram they gave me to follow, so I don't know if this equals it or not. I would assume they mean to go by this

Answer 3

Jason: Both the angle and the "opposite side" (the side of the triangle opposite the angle) are given. Use trig to find the length of the "adjacent side," which is the horizontal side.
This info, combined with the fact that each step is 20 inches wide, should give you enuf basis for y ou to calculate the number of steps.

Answer 4

@mathmale that's the part I don't understand. I have no idea how to figure it. The SOH CAH TOA is hard for me. This really isn't my thing lol. I need to know how to figure it. Could you please help me with that?

Answer 5

Sure. Thanks for the clear explanation of what you need to know.

Answer 6

The following figure represents the triangle described in this problem, with one acute angle labeled as 31 degrees and the vertical rise (which we call "the opposite side" dimensioned (15 feet).