SOLUTION: You are standing on a cliff that is 50 m above the ocean and you see a ship that is 950 m from the bottom of the cliff. Find the angle of depression from you to the ship. Round you

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Question 1082364: You are standing on a cliff that is 50 m above the ocean and you see a ship that is 950 m from the bottom of the cliff. Find the angle of depression from you to the ship. Round your answer to the nearest tenth of a degree.

Found 2 solutions by josgarithmetic, ikleyn:
Answer by josgarithmetic(39618) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
950%2Fsqrt%2850%5E2%2B950%5E2%29=cos%28x%29

Arc Whose Cosine is 950%2Fsqrt%2850%5E2%2B950%5E2%29

Answer by ikleyn(52788) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
.
Definition 

   Angle of Depression

   The angle below horizontal that an observer must look to see an object that is lower than the observer. 

   Note: The angle of depression is congruent to the angle of elevation.

See http://www.mathwords.com/a/angle_depression.htm 

    Therefore,  tan%28alpha%29 = 50%2F950,   and

    alpha = arctan(50/950}}} = arctan(0.0526)}}} = 0.0529 rad = 3° (approximately).


The solution by "josgaritmetic" contains a lot of unnecessary calculations and is impractical.