Question

A 14.5-m fire truck ladder is

leaning against a wall. Find the
distance d the ladder goes up
the wall (above the fire truck) if
the ladder makes an angle of
44° 29' with the horizontal.
14.5 m
d
44° 29

d≈
m
(Simplify your answer. Type an integer or a decimal. Round to the nearest hundredth

Answer 1

well, first off let's convert the 29 minutes to degrees, so since there are 60 minutes in 1 degree, 29 minutes will be 29/60 or about 0.48333°. That means that 14°29' is really about 14.48333°, Check the picture below.

`\sin( 14.48333^o )=\cfrac{\stackrel{opposite}{d}}{\underset{hypotenuse}{14.5}} \implies 14.5\sin(14.48333^o)=d \implies \stackrel{ meters }{3.63}\approx d`

Make sure your calculator is in Degree mode.