You are skiing on a mountain with an altitude of 1200 meters. The angle of depression is 21∘. How far do you ski down the mountain? (Round to the nearest meter)Select the correct response:1873 meters3349 meters1285 meters
Q. You are skiing on a mountain with an altitude of 1200 meters. The angle of depression is 21∘. How far do you ski down the mountain? (Round to the nearest meter)Select the correct response:1873 meters3349 meters1285 meters
Understand and Visualize: Understand the problem and visualize the scenario.We have a right triangle where the altitude of the mountain forms one side (the opposite side to the angle of depression), and we need to find the length of the slope (the hypotenuse) that the skier will ski down. The angle of depression from the horizontal is given as 21 degrees, which is also the angle of elevation from the base to the top of the mountain.
Use Trigonometry: Use trigonometry to solve for the hypotenuse.We can use the tangent function, which relates the opposite side to the adjacent side in a right triangle. The formula is:tan(angle)=adjacentoppositeHere, the angle is 21 degrees, and the opposite side is the altitude of the mountain, which is 1200 meters. We need to find the adjacent side, which is the distance down the mountain.
Rearrange Formula: Rearrange the formula to solve for the adjacent side (distance down the mountain).adjacent=tan(angle)oppositeadjacent=tan(21degrees)1200meters
Calculate Distance: Calculate the distance using the tangent of 21 degrees.First, we need to find the value of tan(21∘). Using a calculator, we find:tan(21∘)≈0.383864Now, we can calculate the adjacent side:adjacent=0.3838641200 meters≈3127.65 meters