A wire is attached to the top of a flag pole. The wire meets the ground 4 meters from the flag pole. The wire makes a 45° angle with the flag pole. How tall is the flag pole?

1 Answer
Apr 6, 2018

#4# meters high

Explanation:

I went ahead and drew a picture of this problem so that you can envision it (note: this drawing is NOT to scale).
enter image source here

We since we have the measurement for the #"opposite side"#, and we need to know the measurement of the #"adjacent side"#, we will use the #tan# function.

#tan 45 = "opposite"/"adjacent"#

#tan 45 = 4/x#

Now use your calculator to find #tan 45# by simply punching in #45# and hitting the button that says #tan#. It should read:

#tan 45 = 1#

So let's put that in the equation:

#(1) = 4/x#

Multiply #x# to both sides to remove the division:

#1 * x = 4/cancelx * cancelx#

#x = 4#

The pole is #4# meters high.