Question

A kite is staked to the ground and blowing in the wind. It currently has a string let out to a length of 45 meters. It has an altitude of 38 feet. To the nearest tenth of a degree, find the angle of elevation. ______°

Answer 1

40.2

Explanation:

To better analyze this problem, we can first draw a picture. Looking at the one attached, we can see that the stake is represented by the point in the bottom right of the screen, and the kite is 45 meters away from it, representing the 45. Then, the height is 38, and this is directly above the 45 meters away from the stake.

This forms a right triangle, and we can use sohcahtoa to help use. As we don't have the hypotenuse, we can use tan. Tan(θ) = opposite/adjacent, or 38/45. Thus, arctan(38/45) = θ, and plugging that into a calculator, we get 40.2 as our answer