We are given the following information
and told to find x. Recall that this is a right triangle, so to solve the problem we will use trigonometry. Recall that for a right triangle we have the following
For the given angle, its cosine is defined as follows
![\cos (\text{angle)}=(a)/(c)](https://img.qammunity.org/2023/formulas/mathematics/college/miz243og63b1b5cjb7m9jdcju1iyzfvnut.png)
In our case we have a=x, c=18 and the angle is 12°. So we get
![\cos (12)=(x)/(18)](https://img.qammunity.org/2023/formulas/mathematics/college/y5f9zwmp1udd3shyiq8kzknh1rarqj0pq8.png)
By multiplying both sides by 18, we get
![x=18\cdot\cos (12)](https://img.qammunity.org/2023/formulas/mathematics/college/abj4bnfadgqcvgkprbyx55bszy8flltsgx.png)
using a calculator, we get
![x=18\cdot\cos (12)\approx16.607](https://img.qammunity.org/2023/formulas/mathematics/college/5kk7ak458097jjuq3m9123euyi4jmsy566.png)
So x is approximately 16.607 m