Question

a statue creates a shadow that is 30 feet long. the angle of elevation of the sun is 50 degrees. How tall is the statue and how would i calculate that?

Answer 1

the answer:
first, the angle of elevation, the shadow and the statue form an right triangle.
so, we know that for computing tangent, we use the main formula:

Tan = opposite side / adjacent side
let x be the length of the statue, it is the opposite side
30 feet long is the adjacent side
therefore, 
tan50°= x /30, 1.19 * 30= x, and the x=35.75 feet