Question

A tower that is 114 feet tall casts a shadow 121 feet long. Find the angle of elevation of the sun to the

nearest degree

Answer 1

43 degrees

Explanation:

First, notice that we can draw a right triangle to represent this situation. The vertical leg of the triangle corresponds to the tower, and the horizontal leg corresponds to the shadow. The height of the tower, 114, is OPPOSITE, and the length of the shadow, 121, is ADJACENT to the angle of elevation to the top of the tower. Remember SOH CAH TOA, we can use TAN to find the angle since we know the values of O and A.

TAN(x) = O/A

TAN(x) = 114/121

x = ARCTAN(114/121)

x = 43