Question

A contractor must build a wheelchair ramp with a recommended 8 degree angle of elevation above the horizontal to reach a door on a wall, as shown above. If the elevation from the sidewalk to the bottom of the door is 3.8 feet, how many feet from the wall must the ramp begin? (Round your answer to the nearest tenth of a foot.)

Answer 1

27.1feet

Explanation:

Find the diagram attached.

From the diagram:

opposite = AB = 3.8feet

adjacent = BC = x feet

To get the unknown:

tan(theta) = opposite/adjacent

tan(theta) = AB/BC

tan8° = 3.8/BC

BC = 3.8/tan8°

BC = 3.8/0.1405

BC = 27.05 feet

Hence distance of the wall from the ramp is 27.1 feet to the nearest tenth of a foot