Final answer:
The angle of elevation can be found using trigonometry by calculating the arccosine of the adjacent side (4 feet) divided by the hypotenuse (10 feet) of the right-angled triangle formed by the ladder.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student is trying to determine the angle of elevation of a ladder leaning against a wall. Given that the ladder is 10 feet long and is placed 4 feet away from the wall, we can use trigonometry to find the angle of elevation. The ladder forms a right-angled triangle with the wall and the ground. The length of the ladder is the hypotenuse of the triangle, and the distance from the wall is the adjacent side of the angle of elevation we want to find. Using the cosine function, which is defined as the adjacent side divided by the hypotenuse, we can calculate the angle of elevation.
To find the angle of elevation (θ), we use:
cos(θ) = adjacent/hypotenuse
Which translates to:
cos(θ) = 4/10
To find θ, we calculate the arccosine of 4/10:
θ = arccos(4/10)
Calculating this using a calculator, provided in degrees, gives us the angle of elevation.