Question

5. A student wants to know how tall the flagpole at her school is, her eye level is 5.5 feet above

Answer 1

Answer:

22.3 ft

Step-by-step explanation:

Here we can make a triangle rectangle with the following vertex:

The student's eye level.

The top of the flagpole

The intersection between a horizontal line that passes through her eye level and a point in the flagpole.

The catheti of this triangle rectangle will be:

The distance between her and the flagpole (36ft)

The height of the flagpole minus the height of her eye level = H

We want to find the value of H.

We also know that the angle of elevation from her point of view is 25°.

(for this angle, the adjacent cathetus is the distance between her and the flagpole)

Now we can remember the relation:

Tan(a) = opposite cathetus/adjacent cathetus.

Then:

Tan(25°) = H/36ft

Solving for H we get:

Tan(25°)*36ft = H = 16.8 ft

And this is the height of the flag pole minus the height of her eye level, then the actual height of the flagpole is:

H + 5.5ft = 16.8 ft + 5.5ft = 22.3 ft