Question

On a quiet day without many witnesses, a 4.5 ft victim was shot by a sniper that was in a tower 780 ft away. If the angle of elevation is 5 degrees from the victim, at what vertical distance did the sniper shoot from

Answer 1

68.17m

Explanation:

Please see attached a rough sketch of the scenario

Step one:

Given data

Height of victim= 4.5ft

The horizontal distance of the snipper from the building = 780ft

The angle of elevation= 5 degrees

Required

The vertical distance

The opposite= the vertical distance

789 ft = the adjacent

Step two:

Applying SOH CAH TOA

tan ∅= opp/adj

tan 5= opp/780

cross multiply we have

0.0874= opp/780

cross multiply we have

0.0874*780= opp

opp= 68.17m

The sniper shoots from a vertical distance of 68.17m