Question

A 51-foot wire running from the top of a tent pole to the ground makes an angle of 59° with the ground. If the length of the tent pole is 45 feet, how far is it from the bottom of the tent pole to the point where the wire is fastened to the ground? (The tent pole is not necessarily perpendicular to the ground. Enter your answers as a comma-separated list. Round your answers to the nearest whole number.)

Answer 1

The distance form the ground will ground will be found as follows:
tan x=opposite/adjacent
x=59 degrees
opposite=height of the pole
adjacent is the ground distance
thus:
tan 59=45/a
thus
a=45/tan 59
a=27. 04 ft
thus the ground distance was:
27.04 ft