word problem

Question

a girl is out for a walk when she notices a birdhouse high up in a tree. it's so high that she wanders how someone would have gotten it up there. standing 5 feet away from the tree, she notices there is a 60 degree angle of elevation to the birdhouse. how tall of a ladder would someone need to have placed the birdhouse that high?

Answer 1

The ladder is the hypotenuse of a 30-60-90 triangle (helps to draw it!)

The side opposite the 30° angle (the 5 ft leg) is one-half the hypotenuse (the ladder)

Now what is the minimum length of the ladder?