Question

After a storm, a tree lies as shown. What was the original height of the tree? (Round to the nearest whole foot.)

Answer 1

Using the Law of Sines, sina/A=sinb/B=sinc/C (although there are other ways considering that this is a 30, 60, 90 degree triangle with a basic identity) we can say:

97/sin60=x/sin30=y/sin90

x=97sin30/sin60 and y=97sin90/sin60

The total height of the tree is h=x+y so

h=97sin30/sin60 + 97sin90/sin60

h≈168.01 ft (to the nearest hundredth of a foot)

h≈168 ft (to nearest foot)