Question

A 15-foot board rests against a wall. The angle that the board makes with the

ground is 60°. How far is the base of the board away from the wall?
Select the correct trig ratio and distance from wall.

Answer 1

Explanation:

Let the base of the board is x feet away from the wall .

And the hypotenuse, which is represented by the length of the board be 15 foot .

So here we have adjacent represented by the base and the hypotenuse .

And cosine function relates adjacent and hypotenuse , which is cos 60=15/x

And the value of cos 60 is half .

Performing cross multiplication

1/2=15/x

Dividing both sides by 2

x=7.5ft

Answer 2

7.5 feet.

Explanation:

The boardgame resting against the wall is creating a triangle rectangle and as it is forming a 60º angle with the ground that would be solve with the cosine of 60, which is the value of the division of the hypotenuse by the adjacent side, which would be the distance from the base of the board game to the wall:

Cos60= .5

cos60=adjacent side/hypotenuse

.5= adjacent side/15

adjacent side= 15x.5

Adjacent side=7.5 feet