Question

a ladoing dock ramp that is 17 feet long risese at an angle of 16.1 degrees from the horizontal. due to new design specifications, a longer ramp is to be used, so that the angle is reduced to 7.2 degrees. how much farther out from the dock will that put the foot of the ramp

Answer 1

The vertical rise is fixed: h = 17·sin(16.1°) = 4.7133 ft.
Old horizontal run = 17·cos(16.1°) = 16.3323 ft.
New horizontal run = h / tan(7.2°) = 4.7133 / 0.126259 = 37.3322 ft.
Difference = 37.3322 − 16.3323 ≈ 21.00 ft.

So the foot of the ramp will be about 21.0 feet farther out.