SOLUTION: Please illustrate and solve this problem. A man in Agoo cathedral tower finds that the angle of depression of a tricycle on the road is 21°16'. If he is 20 meters above the ground

Algebra ->  Trigonometry-basics -> SOLUTION: Please illustrate and solve this problem. A man in Agoo cathedral tower finds that the angle of depression of a tricycle on the road is 21°16'. If he is 20 meters above the ground      Log On


   

Question 979984: Please illustrate and solve this problem.
A man in Agoo cathedral tower finds that the angle of depression of a tricycle on the road is 21°16'. If he is 20 meters above the ground, how far is the tricycle from the tower?
Thank you :)
Answer by josgarithmetic(39630) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!


a=21*deg*16*min, twenty one degrees sixteen minutes

The tricycle would be at the sharp angle of measure "a" and the tower is the segment of the triangle at the left, 20 meters in length. The angle at the bottom of the tower is a right angle, and the bottom leg is what you want to find. Call this horizontal distance, x.

20%2Fx=tan%28a%29

x%2F20=1%2Ftan%28a%29

highlight%28x=20%2Ftan%2821%2616%2F60%29%29
which you can evaluate or compute.

Note, the mixed angle unit is shown in mixed-number form instead of "degrees and minutes".