SOLUTION: Standing on a cliff 380 meters above the sea, Pat sees an approaching ship and measures its angle of depression, obtaining 9 degrees. How far from shore is the ship? Now Pat sight

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Question 1197750: Standing on a cliff 380 meters above the sea, Pat sees an approaching ship and measures its
angle of depression, obtaining 9 degrees. How far from shore is the ship? Now Pat sights a
second ship beyond the first. The angle of depression of the second ship is 5 degrees. How far
apart are the ships?
Found 2 solutions by Edwin McCravy, ikleyn:
Answer by Edwin McCravy(20055) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Standing on a cliff 380 meters above the sea, Pat sees an approaching ship and measures its
angle of depression, obtaining 9 degrees. How far from shore is the ship?



tan%287%5Eo%29+=+380%2Fx

x%2Atan%287%5Eo%29+=+380

x=380%2Ftan%287%5Eo%29

x=3094.851643



 Now Pat sights a
second ship beyond the first. The angle of depression of the second ship is 5 degrees. 




We need to calculate y just as we calculated x above.


tan%285%5Eo%29+=+380%2Fy

y%2Atan%285%5Eo%29+=+380

y=380%2Ftan%285%5Eo%29

x=4343.419875



How far
apart are the ships?



We subtract their two distances horizontally from Pat.

4343.419875 - 3094.851643 = 1248.568232 m

Edwin

Answer by ikleyn(52781) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
.

Honestly, this problem relates to that category of problems,
where everything is clear and obvious without any explanations.