Reed is snorkeling when he spots a stingray resting on the bottom of the ocean floor. He is on the surface of the water looking down. The water is 22 feet deep and the diagonal distance from him to the fish is 34 feet. Use the inverse of cosine to find the approximate angle of elevation with which he is looking at the fish.

Question

Reed is snorkeling when he spots a stingray resting on the bottom of the ocean floor. He is on the surface of the water looking down. The water is 22 feet deep and the diagonal distance from him to the fish is 34 feet. Use the inverse of cosine to find the approximate angle of elevation with which he is looking at the fish.

65°
65°

50°
50°

90°
90°

40°

Answer 1

None of the given options are correct. To find the approximate angle of elevation, we can use the inverse cosine function (also known as arccosine).

Let x be the angle of elevation.

Using trigonometry, we have:

cos(x) = adjacent/hypotenuse

cos(x) = 22/34

To find the angle x, we take the inverse cosine of both sides:

x = arccos(22/34)

Using a calculator, we find that arccos(22/34) is approximately 49.1 degrees.

Therefore, the approximate angle of elevation with which Reed is looking at the fish is 49.1 degrees. So, none of the given options are correct.