Question

The Kingda Ka roller coaster is 456 ft tall. If you are at the top of the roller coaster and your friend is a horizontal distance of 837 ft from the point on the ground below you, what is the angle of depression from the top of the roller coaster to the spot where your friend is standing? Round to the nearest hundredth.

Answer 1

angle of elevation.
On the first, the 456 is the opposite leg and the 837 is the adjacent to the angle of elevation so use tangent (from soh cah toa); x = the angle measure

tan x = 456/837
inverse tan (456/837) = x so do that on your calculator (be sure it is in degree mode).

Then for Ramsey, 1453 is opposite leg and 2960 is adjacent so you have tan x = 1453/2960 and do like the first one.