Basic Trig Word Problem Help?

Question

A slide is 4.5 meters long and makes an angle of 28°with the ground. How far above the ground is top of slide?

A. 2.39 meters

B. 2.29 meters

C. 3.97 meters

D. 2.11 meters

I know I should be using sine and opp to figure it out, but I'm clueless. I would appreciate if the work was shown so I can know ho you got it and I can figure out the rest of the problems myslef. I really appreciate any help that I can get

Answer 1

Ask Sarah Palin.  

Answer 2

No problemo......The slide would be your hypotenuse and the opposite

side (the part of the slide you would climb up) is what you are looking for.

Type in sin(28) on your calculator and you should get 0.46947.

Sin is opposite / hypotenuse, so some number divided by the hypotenuse (in this case, 4.5) equals 0.46947.

The equation would look like this X / 4.5 = 0.46947.

To get X by itself, multiply both sides by 4.5, which gives you

2.11.

Answer 3

The slide forms the hypotenuse of the right triangle.  We need the side opposite the angle, so

sin 28° = opp/hyp = height/4.5 meters.

So height = 4.5sin28° = 2.113 meters.

Hence, D) is the answer.