Question

the statue of liberty is approximately 305 feet tall. if the angle of elevation of a ship to the top of the statue is 20.5°, how far, to the nearest foot, is the ship from the statue's base?

Answer 1

The situation forms a right triangle:

Since it's a right triangle, we can apply the trigonometric function:

Tan α = opposite side / adjacent side

Replacing:

Tan 20.5= 305/x

Solve for x:

x = 305/tan 20.5

x= 816 ft