You’re hiking in Zion National Park when you stop to look at a specific rock feature. The rock feature is 200 feet above the base of the mountain, and the diagonal distance between you and the rock feature is 850 feet. Using the inverse of sine, what is the angle of elevation you are using to look up at the feature? Round your answer to the nearest whole degree.

1 answer

To find the angle of elevation to the rock feature, we can use the trigonometric relationship involving the sine function. The angle of elevation \( \theta \) can be calculated using the following formula:

\[ \sin(\theta) = \frac{\text{opposite}}{\text{hypotenuse}} \]

In this case, the "opposite" side is the height of the rock feature above the base of the mountain (200 feet), and the "hypotenuse" is the diagonal distance to the rock feature (850 feet). Thus, we can write:

\[ \sin(\theta) = \frac{200}{850} \]

Now, calculate \( \frac{200}{850} \):

\[ \frac{200}{850} = \frac{20}{85} \approx 0.2353 \]

Next, we need to find \( \theta \). We do this by taking the inverse sine (arcsin) of \( 0.2353 \):

\[ \theta = \arcsin(0.2353) \]

Using a calculator, we find \( \theta \):

\[ \theta \approx 13.5 \]

Rounding to the nearest whole degree gives us:

\[ \theta \approx 14^\circ \]

Therefore, the angle of elevation you are using to look up at the rock feature is approximately 14 degrees.