Question

A building 78 feet tall casts a shadow 64 feet long. Find the measure of the angle of elevation of

the sun?. Draw a right triangle and round to the nearest tenth of a degree.

Answer 1

50.6°

Explanation:

The reference angle = angle of elevation
`(\theta)`

Side opposite to the reference angle = 78 ft

Adjacent side = 64 ft

Applying trigonometric ratios formula, we would have:

`tan(\theta) = (opposite)/(adjacent)`

Plug in the values

`tan(\theta) = (78)/(64)`

`tan(\theta) = 1.21875`

`\theta = tan^(-1)(1.21875)`

`\theta = 50.6` (nearest tenth)