Question

While sailing on Lake Erie, captain Sherman spots the top of a lighthouse at a 15 degrees angle of elevation. A navigation chart shows the height of the lighthouse to he 220 ft. How far is the boat from the base of the lighthouse?

Answer 1

From the right triangle that can be formed from the top of the lighthouse, to the boat, we can see that the the height of the lighthouse is the opposite side of the angle of elevation. The distance, d, is therefore calculated through the equation,
tan 15° = d / 220 ft
The value of d is equal to 58.95 ft.