A 6-foot man walks on level ground toward a 60 foot flag pole. He notes different angles of elevation θ to the top of the pole w
hen he is different horizontal distances x away from the pole. a) Express the man's horizontal distance from the base of the pole x (in feet) as a function of the angle of elevation θ in degrees. Type theta for θ.
b) Express the angle of elevation θ as a function of the man's horizontal distance to the base of the pole x.
a) The tangent ratio is the ratio of the side opposite an acute angle in a right triangle to the adjacent side. For the angle of elevation, the adjacent side is the distance x to the flagpole. The side opposite is the 54-foot difference between the top of the man's head and the top of the flagpole. So, we have ...
tan(theta) = 54/x
Solving for x gives ...
x = 54/tan(theta)
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b) Solving the first equation in the previous part for theta involves the inverse tangent function:
Step-by-step explanation: Start with the factors you know. It can't be two because 2 doesn't go into 275 evenly. It can't be three because all of them evenly don't go into three. It can't be four because 110 and 275 don't go into it evenly. But five works. 110/ 5 is 22, 275/ 5 is 55, and 220/ 5 is 44.
