Question

A small plane is 4 miles by land away from the airport. The angle of elevation from the airport to the airplane is 6.5 degress. What is the altitude of the plane? Round your answer to the nearest tenth of a mile.

Answer 1

Make the drawing of the right triangle

x, the opposite side to the angle is the altitude of the plane

4 miles, is the adyacent side of the angle

the angle is 6.5°

then, tan(6.5°) = x / 4 miles

solve for x:

x = 4tang(6.5°) miles = 4(0.1139) = 1.25 miles