Question

18Solve the word problem. Be sure to start by drawing a picture.Round to the nearest tenth.A damsel is in distress and is beingheld captive in a tower. Her knight inshining armor is on the ground belowwith a ladder. When the knight stands15 feet from the base of the tower andlooks up at his precious damsel, theangle of elevation to her window is 60degrees. How long does the ladder13have to be?19

Answer 1

To solve this we have to apply trigonometric functions:

The length of the ladder is the hypotenuse of the triangle (x), the distance between the base of the tower and the night is the adjacent side (15). So, we have to apply:

Cos 60°= adjacente/hypotenuse:

Cos 60°=15/x

Solving for x:

x= 15/cos 60°

x = 15/0.5

x=30 feet