The eyes of a basket ball player are 6 feet above the floor. He is at the free-throw line, which is 15 feet from the center of the basket rim. The center of the rim is 10 feet above the floor

Question

The eyes of a basket ball player are 6 feet above the floor.  He is at the free-throw line, which is 15 feet from the center of the basket rim.  The center of the rim is 10 feet above the floor

Determine the angle of elevation (to the nearest degree) from his eye to the center of the rim.

I used arcsin but it don't seem to be correct

Reiny · Answer

Did you make a sketch?

I have a right-angled triangle with a base of 15 and a height of 4, (10 ft - his 6 ft)

so in relation to your angle of elevation Ø, we have the opposite and the adjacent, suggesting

tanØ = 4/15
arctan = 14.93°

So to the nearest degree: 15°

Anonymous · Answer

I did make a sketch, I just used the wrong function, thank you