Question

a hang glider climbs at a 20 degree angle of elevation. Find the height of the hang glider when he has flown a horizontal distance of 60 feet. Round to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

You need to draw a Right triangle using the information given in the exercise. See the picture below (It is not drawn to scale):

Then, you can use the following Trrogonometric function:

`\tan \alpha=(opposite)/(adjacent)`

In this case you can identify that:

`\begin{gathered} \alpha=20\degree \\ opposite=h \\ adjacent=60 \end{gathered}`

Therefore, substituting values and solving for "h", you get this result:

`\begin{gathered} \tan (20\degree)=(h)/(60) \\ \\ 60\cdot\tan (20\degree)=h \\ h\approx21.8ft \end{gathered}`

The answer is:

`21.8ft`