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| Math Central | Quandaries & Queries |
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Question from Mary-Beth, a teacher: Two towers are 30 m apart. From the 15th floor, 40 m up, find the angle of depression to the base of the taller tower? I think the answer is 53, but the answer book says 37. |
Hi Mary-Beth,
I also got 53 degrees. Since 53 + 37 = 90 it looks to me that this was a slip by the author who found the inverse tangent of the wrong fraction. I would look at the definition in the textbook however to make sure the the author is calling the correct angle the angle of depression.
Penny
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