Question

You see Bonnie rock climbing El Capitan. On your telescope is a clinometer. The angle

of elevation is 20 degrees. You know you are standing 950 feet away from El Capitan.
How high up is Bonnie?

Answer 1

≈ 345.8 ft

Explanation:

There is a right triangle formed by Bonnie's height (h) the ground and the angle of elevation.

Using the tangent ratio in the right triangle

tan20° =
`(opposite)/(adjacent)` =
`(h)/(950)` ( multiply both sides by 950 )

950 × tan20° = h , thus

h ≈ 345.8 ft ( to 1 dec. place )