SOLUTION: A lumberjack determines that the angle of inclination from point A to the top of a tree is 41o. He then walks towards the tree to point B and determines that the angle of inclina

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Question 1120833: A lumberjack determines that the angle of inclination from point A to the top of a tree is 41o. He then walks towards the tree to point B and determines that the angle of inclination is 63o. If the tree is 215 ft tall, how far did the lumberjack walk from point A to point B?
Round your answer to two decimal places.
Answer by ankor@dixie-net.com(22740) About Me  (Show Source):
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A lumberjack determines that the angle of inclination from point A to the top of a tree is 41o.
He then walks towards the tree to point B and determines that the angle of inclination is 63o.
If the tree is 215 ft tall, how far did the lumberjack walk from point A to point B?
:
draw this
a = the dist from his initial position to the base of the tree
b = the dist from the point he walked to, to the base of the tree
:
use the tangent of the angles
tan(41) = 215%2Fa
a = 215%2Ftan%2841%29
a = 247.33 ft
and
tan(63) = 215%2Fb
b = 215%2Ftan%2863%29
b = 109.55 ft
:
247.33 - 109.55 = 137.78 ft, the dist he walked