Question

An 18 ft. tree casts a 15 ft. long shadow as shown in the following figure. Which of the following is the angle formed by the sun's rays and the ground?

Answer 1

The angle is 50.2°.

Explanation:

The tree and its shadow from a right triangle with the tree being the perpendicular and the shadow being the base as shown in the figure attached.

Therefore the angle θ formed by the sun's rays and the ground is:

`\theta = tan^-1((18)/(15) )=\boxed{50.2^o}`