Question

Standing on one side of the Mississippi River, you notice a tall tree directly across from you on the opposite bank. You walk 2000 meters along the bank and the tree is still visible, but at an angle of 65° to the bank. How wide is the river?

Answer 1

4289.03 metres

Explanation:

Given that standing on one side of the Mississippi River, you notice a tall tree directly across from you on the opposite bank. You walk 2000 meters along the bank and the tree is still visible, but at an angle of 65° to the bank

Visualise the right triangle formed by the river directly across in the first position , 2000 metres the distance walked along the bank and the line (here hypotenuse) joining you new position and the vertex opposite the bank

We have 65 degress angle has opposite side as width of river and adjacent side as 2000 m

Using trignometrical ratio

we get

`tan 65 = x/2000`, where x is the width of river

`x = 2000 tan 65\\=4289.03` metres