An historic lighthouse is 200 yards from a bike path along the edge of a lake. A walk to the lighthouse is 400 yards long. Find the acute angle feta between the bike path and the walkway.

Question

I found sin which was 1/2. The book says feta is 30 degrees. But how does the value of sin contribute to this and where does thirty degrees come from?

Answer 1

You are correct to say that sin(theta) = 1/2
we also know that sin 30 = 1/2

so isn't theta = 30 ?

Make sure your calculator is set to degrees.
enter
200 / 400
=
press 2ndF or INV, whichever your calculator uses
press SIN
=

you should get 30 degrees.

BTW, who is this feta guy? Did you mean theta, the Greek letter?
I think feta is some kind of cheese.