Question

Shane is a building engineer and is determining the length of an access ramp needed to reach a step 1.5 feet off the ground. He knows the length of the ramp, r, in feet, can be expressed with the equation below.First, Shane finds that sin(4.5°) ≈ 0.08. Using his calculator, he then calculates the length of the ramp as shown below.What could Shane do to make his calculation more accurate? A. Use sin(4.5°) in his calculator instead of 0.08. B. Remeasure the angle with a different tool. C. Use the Pythagorean theorem to find the length of the ramp. D. Use a different trigonometric function to find the length of the ramp.

Answer 1

Statement Problem: Shane is a building engineer and is determining the length of an access ramp needed to reach a step 1.5 feet off the ground. He knows the length of the ramp, r, in feet, can be expressed with the equation below.

First, Shane finds that sin(4.5°) ≈ 0.08. Using his calculator, he then calculates the length of the ramp as shown below.

What could Shane do to make his calculation more accurate?

Solution:

The length of the ramp, r, in feet is expressed using the sine ratio;

`\begin{gathered} \sin \theta=(opposite)/(hypotenuse) \\ \sin 4.5^o=(1.5)/(r) \\ r=((1.5)/(\sin 4.5))ft \\ \end{gathered}`

Hence, Shane's calculation would be more accurate if he uses sin (4.5 degrees) in his calculator instead of 0.08

CORRECT OPTION: A