From the top of a fire tower, a forest ranger sees his partner on the ground at an angle of depression of 40º. If the tower is 45 feet in height, how far is the partner from the base of the tower, to the nearest tenth of a foot (Detailed explanation please)

distance of his partner from the base of the tower ≈ 53.6 ft(nearest tenth)

Step-by-step explanation:

The forest ranger is on top of a fire tower and he sees his partner on the ground at the angle of depression of 40°. The tower is 45 ft tall.  

The illustration forms a right angle triangle.

The adjacent side of the triangle is the distance from the partner to the base of the tower.

Using tangential ratio

tan 40° = opposite/adjacent

tan 40° = 45/adjacent

cross multiply

adjacent tan 40° = 45

divide both sides by tan 40°

adjacent =45/tan 40°

adjacent = 45/0.83909963117

adjacent = 53.6289116667

distance of his partner from the base of the tower ≈ 53.6 ft

in total they made   333.74 your welcome : d