SOLUTION: Hi, I have some review questions to look at for a test this coming Thursday and I was hoping you can get me started on this question from my textbook. "Jerry and Michael are on

Question 933353: Hi, I have some review questions to look at for a test this coming Thursday and I was hoping you can get me started on this question from my textbook.
"Jerry and Michael are on opposite sides of an 8 meter telephone pole. From Jerry's point of view, the top of the pole is at an angle of elevation of 52 degrees. From Michael's point of view, the top of the pole is at an angle of 38 degrees. How far apart are Jerry and Michael? (Round your answer to the nearest tenth of a meter)"
Thank you so much for your time considering you dont get paid to do this!
Answer by Theo(13342) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
jerry forms a right triangle where the angle is 52 degrees and the side opposite is 8 and the side adjacent is equal to j.

michael forms a right triangle where the angle is 38 degrees and the side opposite is 8 and the side adjacent is equal to m.

tangent of 52 is equal to opposite / adjacent which is equal to 8 / j, where j is the distance that jerry is from the pole.

tangent of 38 is equal to opposite / adjacent which is equal to 8 / m, where m is the distance that michael is from the pole.

your 2 equations are:

tan(52) = 8/j
tan(38) = 8/m

solve for j to get j = 8 / tan(52).
solve for m to get m = 8 / tan(38).

add j and m together to get distance between jerry and michael is equal to 8 / tan(52) + 8 / tan(38) which is equal to 16.5 rounded to 1 decimal place.

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