Mitch is 6 feet tall and is looking at a bird on top of a 12-foot street light. He is standing 16 feet from the the light post. What is the angle of elevation that Mitch is looking up to the the bird to the nearest degree?
To find the angle of elevation, we can use the tangent function:
tan(angle) = opposite/adjacent
In this case, the opposite side is the distance from Mitch to the top of the street light (6 feet) and the adjacent side is the distance from Mitch to the base of the street light (16 feet). So, the equation becomes:
tan(angle) = 6/16
angle = tan^(-1)(6/16)
angle ≈ tan^(-1)(0.375)
angle ≈ 21.8 degrees
Therefore, the angle of elevation that Mitch is looking up to the bird is approximately 21.8 degrees.