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Mathematics 68 Online
airamchavez:

An airplane pilot over the Pacific sights an atoll at an angle of depression of 5°. At this time, the horizontal distance from the airplane to the atoll is 4629 meters. What is the height of the plane to the nearest meter?

AZ:

So let's draw our figure first The angle of depression is 5° which makes alternate interior angle which is inside the triangle also 5° |dw:1614894750598:dw|

AZ:

So we have an angle and we have the side opposite it and side adjacent to it. Which trigonometric function would we use to solve for 'x' which is our height?

1 attachment
AZ:

Would we use sin? or cos? or tan? @airamchavez

airamchavez:

Would it be tan

AZ:

That would be correct!! Can you set it up? tan (angle) = opposite / adjacent

airamchavez:

tan(5)=x/4629?

AZ:

There you go!! So now in your calculator, make sure you're in degrees (and not radians) and calculate tan(5)

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