A zip line is setup 150ft in the air, where a person can expect to zip line at a safe declining speed to the ground as they pass
over a body of water, said to be 40 ft in length. Assuming that this cable were stretched tight, where the zip liner is approaching the ground at a 40∘ angle (not the top angle), how many feet of ground would be covered horizontally by the zip liner, not including the body of water? Round to the nearest foot
So the zip line forms a right triangle. The height of the triangle is 150 ft, and the opposite angle is 40°. The horizontal distance covered by the zip liner can be found with trigonometry, specifically with tangent.
tan 40° = 150 / x
x = 150 / tan 40°
x ≈ 179 feet
But this includes the 40 ft long body of water, so the amount of ground covered is:
