SOLUTION: A plane's altitude is 2400 ft. For the pilot, the angle of depression of the base of a control tower is 13 degrees. To the nearest foot, what is the distance from the pilot to the

Question 281771: A plane's altitude is 2400 ft. For the pilot, the angle of depression of the base of a control tower is 13 degrees. To the nearest foot, what is the distance from the pilot to the base of the control tower?
a. 2400 ft
b. 31,200 ft
c. 10,396 ft
d. 10,669 ft

Found 2 solutions by stanbon, subudear:
Answer by stanbon(75887) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
A plane's altitude is 2400 ft. For the pilot, the angle of depression of the base of a control tower is 13 degrees. To the nearest foot, what is the distance from the pilot to the base of the control tower?
--------------
Draw the picture:
You have a right triangle with
base = x
height = 2400
Angle opposite the height = 13 degrees
-----------------------------------------
Equation:
tan(13) = 2400/x
x = 2400/tan(13)
x = 10395.54 ft.
==================
Cheers,
Stan H.

a. 2400 ft
b. 31,200 ft
c. 10,396 ft
d. 10,669 ft

Answer by subudear(62) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The distance between pilot and tower will be the hpotenuse of the right angel triangle. Let the hypotenuse length be x
So sin(13) = 2400 / x
x = 2400 / 0.22495 = 10669
So answer will be (d) 10669 ft
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