Chelsea is sitting 8 feet from the foot of a tree. From where she is sitting, the angle of elevation of her line of sight to the top of the tree is 36∘. If her line of sight starts 1.5 feet above ground, how tall is the tree, to the nearest foot?(1) 8(2) 7(3) 6(4) 4
Q. Chelsea is sitting 8 feet from the foot of a tree. From where she is sitting, the angle of elevation of her line of sight to the top of the tree is 36∘. If her line of sight starts 1.5 feet above ground, how tall is the tree, to the nearest foot?(1) 8(2) 7(3) 6(4) 4
Identify Relationship: : Identify the relationship between the angle of elevation, the distance from Chelsea to the tree, and the height of the tree above Chelsea's line of sight.We can use the tangent of the angle of elevation to relate the height of the tree above Chelsea's line of sight to the distance from Chelsea to the tree. The tangent of an angle in a right triangle is the ratio of the opposite side to the adjacent side.
Calculate Height: : Calculate the height of the tree above Chelsea's line of sight using the tangent function.The tangent of 36 degrees is equal to the height of the tree above Chelsea's line of sight (let's call this height 'h') divided by the distance from Chelsea to the tree, which is 8 feet.an(36∘)=8h
Solve for 'h': : Solve for 'h' by multiplying both sides of the equation by 8.h=8×tan(36∘)Using a calculator, we find that tan(36∘) is approximately 0.7265.h=8×0.7265h≈5.812 feet
Add Heights: : Add Chelsea's line of sight height above the ground to the height of the tree above her line of sight.The total height of the tree is the height above Chelsea's line of sight plus the 1.5 feet from the ground to her line of sight.Total height of the tree = h+1.5 feetTotal height of the tree ≈5.812+1.5 feetTotal height of the tree ≈7.312 feet
Round Total Height: : Round the total height of the tree to the nearest foot.The total height of the tree, rounded to the nearest foot, is 7 feet.