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A boat is heading towards a lighthouse who’s beacon-light is 132 feet above the water. the boat’s crew Measure the angle of elevation to the beacon, 5 degrees. what is the ships horizontal distance from the lighthouse and the shore? round your answer to the nearest tenth of a foot

A boat is heading towards a lighthouse who’s beacon-light is 132 feet above the water-example-1

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The right angle triangle representing this scenario is shown below

A represents the beacon light

AB is the ship'e horizontal distance from the lighthouse

Taking angle A which is the angle of elevation as the reference angle,

opposite side = BC = 132

adjacent side = AB

To find AB, we would apply the tangent trigonomeric ratio which is expressed as

Tan # = opposite side/adjacent side

Therefore,

Tan 5 = 132/AB

ABtan5 = 132

AB = 132/tan5

AB = 1508.8

The ship's horizontal distance from the lighthouse and the shore is 1508.8 feet

A boat is heading towards a lighthouse who’s beacon-light is 132 feet above the water-example-1
User Sudhir Dhumal
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