Question

30PTS TO ANYONE WHO CAN ANSWER WITH THIS PROBLEM

A shooting star forms a right triangle with the Earth and the Sun, as shown below:



A scientist measures the angle x and the distance y between the Earth and the Sun. Using complete sentences, explain how the scientist can use only these two measurements to calculate the distance between the Earth and the shooting star.

Answer 1

`ytan(x°)`

Explanation:

well, by using definition of tan of an angle

let the distance between Earth and shooting star is
`d`.

since
`(d)/(y)=tan(x°)`,

then
`d=ytan(x°)`