The towrope pulling a parasailor is 70m long. They estimate that the angle between the towrope and the water is about 30°. Find the height of the parasailor above the water, to the nearest 10m.
sin 30 = h/70
but we all know sin 30 = 1/2
so 35
so 70 would be the hypotenuse of your right-angled triangle and you want the height, which is opposite your angle of 30°
According to SOHCAHTOA
sin30° = h/70
h = 70sin°
= ....
Thank you!!
To find the height of the parasailor above the water, we can use trigonometry.
Let's label the height of the parasailor as "h" and the length of the towrope as "l" (70m in this case).
We have a right triangle formed by the towrope, the height, and the line perpendicular to the water. The angle between the towrope and the water is 30°.
The trigonometric function we can use in this case is the sine function. The sine of an angle in a right triangle is defined as the length of the side opposite the angle divided by the length of the hypotenuse. In this case, the height "h" is the side opposite the angle, and the towrope length "l" is the hypotenuse.
So we can write:
sin(30°) = h / l
To find the height "h", we can rearrange this equation:
h = l * sin(30°)
Now we can substitute the given values:
h = 70m * sin(30°)
Using a scientific calculator, we find that sin(30°) is approximately 0.5.
h = 70m * 0.5
h = 35m
Therefore, the height of the parasailor above the water is approximately 35 meters.