Question

An airplane pilot over the Pacific sights an atoll at an angle of depression of 10°. At this time, the horizontal distance from the airplane to the atoll is 3,172 meters.

Answer 1

The question was posted incomplete.

This is the part missing:

What is the height of the plane to the nearest meter?

Answer:  559 m.

Explanation:

1) The horizontal distance between the plane and tha atoll makes a right triangle with the height, with the depression angle between the two legs.

2) Therefore, you can use the tangent trigonometric ratio:

tan(10°) = opposite-leg / adyacent-leg = height / horizontal distance

⇒ height = horizontal distance × tan (10°)

⇒ height = 3,172 m × tan(10°) = 559.31 m, which rounded to the nearest m is 559