Problema Solution
A forest ranger is watching the progress of a forest fire spreading towards her from the top of a 3785-foot mesa. In 4 minutes, the angle of depression to the leading edge of the fire changes from 10.8 degrees to 12.59 degrees.
How many feet does the fire advance during the 4 minutes that the ranger is observing it?
Answer provided by our tutors
make a good drawing and use trigonometry
let 'd' represent the distance that the fire advance during the 4 minutes
d = 3785/(tan(10.8)) - 3785/(tan(12.59))
calculating we find:
d = 2,894.65 ft
click here to see the step by step calculation:
during the 4 minutes the fire will advance by 2,894.65 feet.