A radio tower is 200 feet tall. How far is an observer from the base of the tower if the angle of their line of sight from the ground to the top of the tower is 65°

65
°
? Round to the nearest hundredth.(1 point)
Responses

178.57 ft
178.57 ft

93.26 ft
93.26 ft

428.90 ft
428.90 ft

23.66 ft

1 answer

To find the distance from the observer to the base of the tower, we can use the tangent function from trigonometry, which relates the height of the tower and the distance to the observer.

The formula is:

\[ \tan(\theta) = \frac{\text{opposite}}{\text{adjacent}} \]

In this case, the opposite side is the height of the tower (200 feet), and the adjacent side is the distance from the observer to the base of the tower (let's call it \( d \)). So we can rearrange the formula to solve for \( d \):

\[ d = \frac{\text{opposite}}{\tan(\theta)} \]

Substituting the values we know:

\[ d = \frac{200}{\tan(65^\circ)} \]

Now, we will calculate \( \tan(65^\circ) \) first:

\[ \tan(65^\circ) \approx 2.1445 \]

Now, plug this back into the equation:

\[ d = \frac{200}{2.1445} \approx 93.26 \text{ ft} \]

So the distance from the observer to the base of the tower is approximately 93.26 ft.