Express your answer with the correct units and number of significant figures.
1. An airplane is flying at an altitude of 8000 m above the ground. An observer on the ground, whose eyes are 1.60 m above the ground, measures the angle to plane at several points. Calculate the straight-line distance from the observer to the plane when the angle is a) 30 degrees b) 75, and c) 90
I know the answers, but I don't understand how 90 degrees works with sin=opposite/hypotenuse, cos=adjacent/hypotenuse, tan=opposite/adjacent. The opposite side is the hypotenuse, so opposite/hypotenuse = 1, but what about adjacent and opposite? Which side is opposite and which side is adjacent?
5. A Coast Guard officer on the top of a 50 m tower sees a boat in the ocean. The boat is at an angle of 4 degrees below the horizontal. How far away is the boat from the base of the tower?
English is not my first language. Is horizontal the ocean horizon? I'm supposed to ignore the curve if I'm only using trig, so what angle is formed with the man and the boat? 64 degrees, 56 degrees, 34 degrees, 26 degrees?
1. An airplane is flying at an altitude of 8000 m above the ground. An observer on the ground, whose eyes are 1.60 m above the ground, measures the angle to plane at several points. Calculate the straight-line distance from the observer to the plane when the angle is a) 30 degrees b) 75, and c) 90
I know the answers, but I don't understand how 90 degrees works with sin=opposite/hypotenuse, cos=adjacent/hypotenuse, tan=opposite/adjacent. The opposite side is the hypotenuse, so opposite/hypotenuse = 1, but what about adjacent and opposite? Which side is opposite and which side is adjacent?
5. A Coast Guard officer on the top of a 50 m tower sees a boat in the ocean. The boat is at an angle of 4 degrees below the horizontal. How far away is the boat from the base of the tower?
English is not my first language. Is horizontal the ocean horizon? I'm supposed to ignore the curve if I'm only using trig, so what angle is formed with the man and the boat? 64 degrees, 56 degrees, 34 degrees, 26 degrees?