Question

Jake built a skateboard ramp that covers a horizontal distance of 10ft. The ramp rises a total of 3.5ft. What angle does the ramp make with the ground? Round to the nearest degree

Answer 1

To find the angle that the ramp makes with the ground, we can use basic trigonometry. The tangent of an angle is equal to the ratio of the opposite side to the adjacent side.

In this case, the opposite side is the height of the ramp (3.5ft) and the adjacent side is the horizontal distance covered by the ramp (10ft).

So, the tangent of the angle can be calculated as follows:

tan(angle) = opposite / adjacent

tan(angle) = 3.5ft / 10ft

Using a calculator, we can find the value of the tangent:

tan(angle) ≈ 0.35

To find the angle itself, we can take the inverse tangent (arctan) of both sides:

angle ≈ arctan(tan(angle))

angle ≈ arctan(0.35)

Now, calculating this using a calculator, we find:

angle ≈ 19.42 degrees

Rounding to the nearest degree, the angle that the ramp makes with the ground is approximately 19 degrees.