Miguel looks out from the crown of the Statue of Liberty approximately 250 ft above ground. He sights a ship coming into New York harbor and measures the angle of depression as 18 degrees. Find the distance from the base of the statue to the ship to the nearest foot.

Answer 1

We draw a rt. triangle:

A = 18 Deg.
X = Hor. side = Distance from base of statue to ship.

Y = 250 Ft = Ver. side.

tanA = Y/X
tan18 = 250/X
X = 250/tan18 = 769Ft.