Mr. Bennet is standing on a tower 50 ft. Above the ground looks down and spots Joe. The angle of depression to Joe is 35 degrees.How far away from the base of the tower is Joe?

I am not sure on how to figure out the angle of depression, any sort of help would be very beneficial for me and others I am sure who don't understand this and are afraid to ask help. Thanks :)

4 answers

The angle of depression is the "downward" angle. So originally in your diagram it is outside the triangle at the top. BUT when you use parallel line theorems you see that the Angle of Depressison has the same value as the ANgle of Elevation (which is inside the triangle at the bottom) So in this case at Joe's feet : )
Ms Pi 3.14159265358979323,

I am very sorry to say, but in my mind what you are saying kind of doesn't make very much sense to me. Is there another way you could say it that would maybe make sense to me?
DRAW IT !!!!
Tower, horizontal line through top of tower to over Joe,
parallel horizontal line through bottom of tower to Joe
slant line down
Think about parallel lines where they intersect with a crossing line.
The angle of depression is equal to the angle of elevation.
So... the 35 degrees goes in the bottom corner of the triangle beside Joe.
FYI
you also know that opposite to your 35 degrees is the side of the triangle that has the 50 feet. So you are trying to find the ADJACENT side, when you have the OPPOSITE side... so you will be using the TANGENT ratio : )