Question

A sailor is 30m above the water in the crow's nest on a sailboat. The sailor encounters an orca surface at an angle of depression of 15 degrees. The crows nest is 20 m horizontally from the bow (front) of the boat. How far in front of the boat is the orca?

Answer 1

Given :

A sailor is 30 m above the water in the crow's nest on a sailboat.

The sailor encounters an orca surface at an angle of depression of 15 degrees.

The crows nest is 20 m horizontally from the bow (front) of the boat.

To Find :

How far in front of the boat is the orca.

Solution :

Let, distance of boat front from the crow's nest is x.

So,

$\dfrac{30}{20+x}=tan \ 15^{\circ}\\\\x=\dfrac{30}{tan \ 15^{\circ}}-20\\\\x=111.94-20\\\\x=91.94\ m$

Hence, this is the required solution.