A staircase has an angle of elevation of 28° anı covers a total distance of 17 feet. What is the horizontal length covered by the staircase?

Question

asked May 15, 2023 188k views

1 Answer

Nithin CV · Answer 1 · 2023-05-20T16:01:18+0000

Hi there!

We can use right-triangle trigonometry to solve.

We are given the HYPOTENUSE and ADJACENT sides, so we must use cosine in this instance.

cosθ = Adjacent/Hypotenuse

We can plug in what is given:

cos(28) = A/17

Solve for 'A':

17cos(28) = 15.01 ft