A pilot observes the measure of the angle of depression of a marker to be 36 degrees. the plane is 2000m above the ground. How Far from the marker is the point on the ground directly beneath the plane?

Question

2734 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2018-05-22T09:39:40

# 2000/tan(36^circ) approx 2753 # m

Triangle #P#lane#G#round#M#arker is a right triangle, #G# the right angle, #M=36^circ,# #PG=2000# m.

# tan M = {PG}/{MG}#

# MG= {PG}/tan M = 2000/tan(36^circ) #

Now I happen to know #tan(36^circ)# in a nice radical form, but I admit that's not that useful to a pilot. We approximate.

#MG approx 2753 # m