Question

Isabella caries a box up a metal ramp into the back truck. The ramp is 3 meters long and the bottom makes a 32 degree angle with the ground. How many meters is the ground distance between the bottom of the ramp and the back of the truck?

Answer 1

2.5 m

Explanation:

Consider the ramp, the ground and the back of the lorry to form a right triangle where the ramp is the hypotenuse and the distance from the back of the lorry is the adjacent side, x

Using the cosine ratio in the right triangle

cos32° =
`(adjacent)/(hypotenuse)` =
`(x)/(3)`

Multiply both sides by 3

3 × cos32° = x, hence

x ≈2.5 m