Question

Two birds sit at the top of two different trees. The distance between the first bird and a birdwatcher on the ground is 32 feet. The distance between the birdwatcher and the second bird is 45 feet. A triangle is created from point Bird Watcher, point First Bird, and point Second Bird. Angle First Bird is a right angle, and angle Second Bird measures x degrees. What is the angle measure, or angle of depression, between this bird and the birdwatcher? Round your answer to the nearest tenth. 35.4° 44.7° 45.3° 54.6°

Answer 1

Answer:

Step-by-step explanation:

When you draw out that picture (and very good description, btw!) basically what you have is a right triangle that has a base of 32 and a hypotenuse of 45. The right angle is one of the base angles and x is the vertex angle. We need to find the vertex angle before we can find the angle of depression from the second bird to the watcher. The side of length 32 is opposite the angle x, and 45 is the hypotenuse, so the trig ratio we need is the only one that directly relates side opposite to hypotenuse, which is the sin ratio:

$sin(x)=\frac{32}{45}$ and

sin(x) = .711111111

Go to your calculator and hit the 2nd button then the sin button and on your screen you will see:

$sin^{-1}($  

and after that open parenthesis enter in your decimal .711111111 and hit equals. You should get an angle of 45.325. That's angle x. But that's not the angle of depression. The angle of depression is the one complementary to angle x.

Angle of depression = 90 - angle x and

Angle of depression = 90 - 45.325 so

Angle of depression = 44.67 or 44.7 degrees.