Question

A sailor is looking at a kite. If he is looking at the kite at an angle of elevation of 36and the distance from the boat to the point where the kite is directly overhead is 40 feet, how high is

the kite?

Answer 1

29.04 feet

Explanation:

Given : A sailor is looking at a kite. If he is looking at the kite at an angle of elevation of 36

The distance from the boat to the point where the kite is directly overhead is 40 feet

To Find: how high is the kite

Solution :

Refer the attached figure

Since we are given that The distance from the boat to the point where the kite is directly overhead is 40 feet i.e. AB = 40 feet

Since we are also given that angle of elevation = 36° i.e. ∠BAC =36°

So we need to find how high is the kite i.e. BC

So, we will use trigonometric ratio

`tan\theta =(Perpendicular)/(Base)`

`tan 36^(\circ) =(BC)/(AB)`

`0.726 =(BC)/(40)`

`0.726*40 =\frac{BC}`

`29.04=\frac{BC}`

Thus the length of BC = 29.04 feet

Hence the kite is 29.04 feet high