Question

Jin is flying a kite, holding his hands a distance of 3.5 feet above the ground and letting all the kite’s string out. He measures the angle of elevation from his hand to the kite to be 32∘. If the string from the kite to his hand is 145 feet long, how many feet is the kite above the ground? Round your answer to the nearest tenth of a foot if necessary.

Answer 1

Draw a right triangle with the string as the hypotenuse. The vertical rise from Jin’s hand to the kite is 145·sin(32°). Add the 3.5 ft hand height:

height = 3.5 + 145·sin(32°) ≈ 3.5 + 76.8 = 80.3 feet.

So the kite is about 80.3 ft above the ground.