Question

Kelsea and Landon are playing in a park standing 100 feet away from each other. They both see a bird flying above them. The angles of elevation from each person to the bird are shown. How high is the bird from the ground? Round your answer to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

Explanation:

use an ASA triangle with law of sine

since we know that 180 = 20 +45 + C .. solve for C = 115°

now use law of sines c/ sin(C) = b/sin(B) .. and solve for b

Sin(20)*100/sin(115) = b

b = 37.73774 ft

that's the hypotenuse of the 45 triangle

SOH CAH TOA to remember how trig functions fit

use b*Cos(45) = adj

26.6846 = adj

The bird is 26.7 ft. from the ground