Question

A surfer is riding a 7 foot wave. The angle of depression from the surfer to the shoreline is 10 degrees. What is the distance from the surfers to the shoreline?

Answer 1

The distance from the surfer to the shoreline will be found as follows:
tan θ= opposite/adjacent
θ=10°
opposite=7ft
adjacent= x ft
substituting the values in our formula and solving for x we get
tan 10=7/x
hence
x=7/tan10
x=39.69897~ 39.7 ft
The surfer is 39.7 ft from the shoreline.