Atree 18 meters high casts a 27.6 meter shadow. find the angle of elevation of the sun. round your answer to the nearest tenth.

To understand the problem clearly, you have to illustrate it. Based on my understanding, the problem goes like this. Please refer to the picture. When the sun is high up in the sky, it causes a shadow to form. In the picture, this is represented by the bold horizontal line to the ground that measures 27.6 m. You want to find the angle of elevation of the sun, denoted as x°. With the height of the tree being 18 m, you create a right triangle. Therefore, we can apply the pythagorean theorems.

With respect to the unknown angle, you know the opposite side (18 m) and the adjacent side (27.6 m). So, it would be easier to use the tangent function.

tan x° = opposite/adjacent = 18/27.6
x = tan^-1 (18/27.6)
x = 33.11°

The answer would be -3.9> -4.5