Math Review Help

Question

The pilot of a hot-air ballon would like to know the angle of depression to a landing spot that is 125 meters away. If the pilot's altitude is 125m, what is the measure of the angle of depression to the lading spot?

Answer 1

Draw and label a diagram!

It is a right isosceles triangle.

Angle of depression is 45°

Answer 2

Draw a picture----always, for this kind of problem.

There is a right triangle: One side is the distance from the ground to the balloon. Another side is the horizontal distance to the landing spot. The longest side is the hypoteneuse, which is the actual line-of-sight distance from the balloon to the landing spot. (this is sometimes called "slant range")

You are given the horizontal and vertical distances--which are the same, meaning that the tangent of the "angle of depression" is 1.