Question

The foul lines of a baseball field intersect at home plate to form a right angle. A batter hits a fair ball such that the path of the baseball forms an angle of 27° with the third base foul line. What is the measure of the angle between the first base foul line and the path of the baseball?

Answer 1

The angle formed between the first base foul line and the path of the baseball is 63°.

Explanation:

This is not a difficult problem. We only need to remember the measure of a right angle, which is 90°. Now, recall that the path baseball divides the right angle in two angles, and we know the measure of one of them.

In the attached figure the black lines are the foul lines of the baseball field, and the blue line is the baseball path. In green is the given angles and colored red is the wanted angle.

So, the sum of the angles α and β is 90° and we know the measure of the angle α: 27°. So,

α + β = 90° .

Then,

β = 90° - α = 90° - 27° = 63°.