Question

1. Ella wants to know how tall the flagpole at her school is, her eye level is 5.5 feet above the ground and she stands 36 feet from the base of the flagpole. If the angle of elevation is 25 degrees, what is the height of the flagpole?

Answer 1

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Answer:

22.3 ft

Explanation:

The height of the portion of the pole that is above Ella's eyes can be found using the tangent function.

Tan = Opposite/Adjacent

tan(25°) = (height above eyes)/(36 ft)

height above eyes = (36 ft)·tan(25°) ≈ 16.8 ft

Then the height of the flagpole is ...

5.5 ft + 16.8 ft = 22.3 ft

The flagpole is 22.3 feet high.