Question

Marilyn stood 18 feet away from a spot direclt underneath a bird's nest and looked up at the nest with an angle of elevation of 28°. Marilyn eyes were 4 feet above the ground. Find the height of the bird's nest above the ground rounded to the nearest foot?

Answer 1

Answer: 9ft off the ground

Explanation:

tan28/1=x/18, cross multiply and get x=18tan28, put 18tan28 into the graphic calculate and get ~5 then you add the 4ft height of Marilyn and get ~9ft.

Answer 2

Answer: height of the nest is 14 ft

Explanation:

Marilyn's line of sight forms a right angle triangle with the ground and the tree.

Her distance from the spot directly underneath the bird's nest represents the adjacent side of the right angle triangle.

The height, h of the bird's nest above the ground represents the opposite side of the right angle triangle. To determine h, we would apply the tangent trigonometric ratio. It is expressed as

Tan θ = opposite side/adjacent side. Therefore,

Tan 28 = h/18

h = 18tan28 = 18 × 0.53

h = 10 ft to the nearest foot

Since her eyes is 4 feet from the ground, the total height of the nest above the ground is

10 + 4 = 14 ft