Question

A sailboat is 175 feet from the base of a lighthouse. If the angle of elevation to the top of the lighthouse is 23°, find the height of the lighthouse, to the nearest hundredth of a foot.

Answer 1

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Answer:

74.28 ft

Explanation:

The tangent of the angle is the ratio of opposite side (lighthouse height) to adjacent side (distance from lighthouse).

tan(23°) = height/(175 ft)

height = (175 ft)·tan(23°) ≈ 74.28 ft