A hinged crane which measures 19m makes an angle of 50° with the ground. A malfunction causes the lock on the hinge to fail and the top part (of 14.6m) of the crane swings down. How far from the base of the crane does the top hot the ground.

Answer 1

Draw a diagram. The 14.6m part and the 4.4m part form two sides of a triangle. You want the 3rd side. Using the law of sines,

14.6/sin50° = 4.6/sinB
now you have one more angle, so the 3rd angle C is easy to find, and the side you want is now easy.

c/sinC = 14.6/sin50°