An advertising blimp hovers over a stadium at an altitude of 125 m. The pilot sights a tennis court at an 8o angle of depression. To the nearest meter, find the ground distance in a straight line between the stadium and the tennis court.
I set it up 125/tan8, knowing its a right triangle
you are correct
To find the ground distance between the stadium and the tennis court, we can use trigonometric ratios. In this case, we can use the tangent function to solve for the ground distance.
Let's first label the information we have. The altitude of the blimp is 125 m, and the angle of depression is 8 degrees. The ground distance we want to find is represented by the variable x.
Now, we can set up the equation using the tangent function:
tan(angle of depression) = opposite/adjacent
tan(8) = opposite/125
To solve for the opposite side (ground distance), we can rearrange the equation:
opposite = tan(8) * 125
Using a calculator, we find that tan(8) is approximately 0.1405. Multiplying this by 125, we get:
opposite ≈ 0.1405 * 125 ≈ 17.56
Therefore, the ground distance in a straight line between the stadium and the tennis court is approximately 17.56 meters (to the nearest meter).