Question

A boy borrowed his boat 531 feet out into the ocean. When he looked back he saw the house on a cliff above the beach where he set out. He estimated the angle of elevation was 26 degrees. Estimate to the nearest foot. the height of the house above the water

Answer 1

259 ft.

Explanation:

A triangle is a polygon with three sides and three angles. Types of triangles are isosceles. scalene, equilateral, acute, obtuse and right angled triangle.

A right angled triangle is a triangle in which one of the angles is 90 degrees. Trigonometric ratios show the relationship between the angles of a right angle triangle and its sides.

Let h represent the height of the house above water, hence using trigonometric ratios:

tan(26) = h / 531

h = 531 * tan(26)

h = 259 ft.