Question

An airplane pilot over the Pacific sights an atoll at an angle of depression of 10 degrees. At this time, the horizontal distance from the airplane to the atoll is 5,172.

What is the height of the plane to the nearest meter?

A. 5,084 meters
B. 5,093 meters
C. 898 meters
D. 912 meters

Answer 1

It would be helpful if you draw a figure of the problem statement so that you would understand it clearly. You would see that a right triangle would be formed where the base is equal to the horizontal distance from the airplane to the atoll which is 5172 and the angle from the ground to the atoll would be equal to the angle of depression. We calculate as follows:

tan (theta) = opposite/ adjacent
tan (10) = height / 5172
height = 911.96 units of length