A certain flagpole that is 289 feet tall casts a shadow 132 feet long. Find the angle of elevation of the sun.

Answer 1

289/132 = tangent of the angle

65.45 degrees is the angle

tan^-1(289/132) = tan^-1(2.19) = 65.45

It's a little over twice as high as the shadow is long

If the angle had been 60 degrees, then the ratio of height to length would have been sqr3/1 or 1.732

2.19 is a little larger than 1.732, so the angle is larger than 60 degrees.