Question

Please show me the steps on how to do this.

Find the angle of elevation of the sun from the ground to the top of a tree when a tree that is 10 yards tall casts a shadow 14 yards long. Round to the nearest degree.

I'm learning about vectors right now.
Options:
o 54 degrees
o 36 degrees
o 46 degrees
o 44 degrees,

Answer 1

You can consider the tree perpendicular to its shadow, therefore you get a triangle rectangle of which you know the two legs and you need to find the angle between the shadow and the hypothenuse, opposite to the tree.

In this case, the angle α can be easily found with trigonometry:
tan α = (opposite side / adjacent side)

Therefore:
α = tan⁻¹ (tree / shadow) = tan⁻¹ (10 / 14) = 35°

NOTE:
tan⁻¹ is sometimes found written as arctan.