Question

Find the measure of the angle of elevation of the sun when a pole 25 feet tall casts a shadow 42 feet long.

Answer 1

Hello,

These kinds of problems are done best if you draw a picture. If you do that, you will see that you are dealing with an opposite and adjacent side of an angle. Therefore, we can use the tangent ratio.

Our equation will be:
tan(X) = 25/42
If we take the inverse tangent (tan^-1) of 25/42 will will get a measure of 30.8.

Then angle of elevation of the sun is 30.8 degrees.

I hope this helps,
MrEQ