From the top of a cliff 426 feet high, the angle of depression of a ship is observed to be 18.2°. how far out is the ship? 140 ft. 1,296 ft. 1,364 ft.

1,296 ft.

Step-by-step explanation:

I did a scheme of the situation in the picture below. Now, the angle α and the depression angle add 90°. Then,

α+18.2 = 90

α = 90-18.2

α = 71.8°.

On the other hand, to find the distance x (how far out is the ship) we can use the formula of tangent of an angle. Let's find the tangent of α to find x:

tan(α)= op/ad

where op is the opposite leg and ad is the adjacent leg, then

Then, the cliff is 1295.68≈1296 feets far of the ship.

what i would say the best answer is a. 40.5