Question

Jalen was repairing the post on his mailbox. He wanted the post to be

perpendicular to the ground, but his protractor showed that the post was at an
82 degree angle with the ground. He incorrectly concluded that he needed to
increase the angle by 12 degrees. What should Jalen have concluded?

A.The angle needs to
be increased by 10
degrees to get a 90
degree angle.
B.The angle needs to
be decreased by 28
degrees to get a 180
degree angle.
C.The angle needs to
be decreased by 98
degrees to get a 180
degree angle.
D.The angle needs to
be increased by 8
degrees to get to a
90 degree angle.

Answer 1

Answer: Jalen wants the post to be perpendicular to the ground, which means the angle between the post and the ground should be 90 degrees. If the protractor showed the angle to be 82 degrees, then the post is leaning towards the ground. To make the post perpendicular, the angle needs to be decreased. Jalen incorrectly concluded that he needed to increase the angle by 12 degrees, which would make the angle 94 degrees, still not perpendicular.

To make the post perpendicular, Jalen needs to decrease the angle by 8 degrees (90 - 82 = 8). Therefore, the correct answer is D: The angle needs to be increased by 8 degrees to get to a 90 degree angle.

Explanation: