Question

Standing on a cliff 380 meters above the sea, Pat sees an approaching ship and measures its angle of depression, obtaining 9 degrees. How far from the shore is the ship? Now Pat sights a second ship beyond the first. The angle of depression of the second ship is 5 degrees. How far apart are the ships?

Answer 1

(a). 2399.23 meters.

(b). 1944.19 meters apart.

Explanation:

We have been given that standing on a cliff 380 meters above the sea, Pat sees an approaching ship and measures its angle of depression, obtaining 9 degrees.

(a) We are asked to find how far from the shore is the ship.

We know that tangent relates opposite side of a right triangle with its adjacent side.

Therefore, the ship is approximately 2399.23 meters away from the shore.

Therefore, the both ships are approximately 1944.19 meters apart.