Problema Solution

You sre designing a zip-line for a ropes course at a summer camp. You want to attach one end of the cable to a pole 50 feet high and the other end to a pole 5 feet high. The maximum safe angle of elevation for the zip-line is 25 degrees. Find the length x of the cable needed. How far apart are the poles holding the cable?

Answer provided by our tutors

When you draw the diagramn, the two poles would form an upside down  right triangle. With one leg being 45 feet, and the angle opposite that leg being 65 degrees. 

 

Sin of 65= opposite/hypotenuse. 

So the hypotenuse is equal to 49.65 feet which is the length of the cable. 

 

The distance between the two poles would be cos65 times the hypotenuse. So it is equal to 20.98 feet