Question

Two people stand on opposite sides of a river. Person 1 stands 20 yards away from a nearby tree and person 2 views the tree at an angle of 60 degrees. To the nearest whole yard how far is it from one side of the river to the other side

Answer 1

*see diagram in the attachement

Answer:

12 yards

Explanation:

Reference angle = 60°

Opposite side length = 20 yards

Adjacent side length = d

Applying the trigonometric function, TOA, we have:

Tan 60 = opp/adj

Tan 60 = 20/d

d × Tan 60 = 20

d = 20/Tan 60

d ≈ 12 yards (nearest whole yard)