From a boat on the lake, the angle of elevation to the top of a cliff is 26°35'. If the base of the cliff is 85 feet from the boat, how high is the cliff (to the nearest foot)?

Question

From a boat on the lake, the angle of elevation to the top of a cliff is 26°35'. If the base of the cliff is 85 feet from the boat, how high is the cliff (to the nearest foot)?
 A. 56 feet

B. 43 feet

C. 53 feet

D. 46 feet

I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THIS FOREVER! please help me :( i don't know what i am doing wrong and none of my answers are any of these.

RK800 · Accepted Answer

Thanks reiny, but you didn’t have to make the poster feel bad

Reiny · Answer

Working forever?
takes about 30 seconds

make a sketch, let the height be h
tan 26° 35' = h/85
h = 85 tan 26.58333..° = 42.5339 ft
or according to the choices given, 43 feet

26° 35' = 26 + 35/60 = 26.583333..