Hello, Madison,
The triangle formed is a right triangle with the right angle located at the line dropped straight down to the ground from the kite. The hypotenuse is the distance of the string from Quinn to the kite, 90 feet). The angle between the ground and the kite where Quinn is standing is 44°.
We can answer the question with a trig calculation. Remeber that SOHCAHTOA is the clue to which sides of the triangle are involved with sine, cosine, and tangent.
We want to distance along the ground from Quinn to undeneath the kite. This portion of the triangle the the Adjacent side We want a trig function to include what we know, the Hypotenuse and the angle. SOHCAHTOA gives me that clue. I'm looking for the sequence of two letters, the one we know (H) and the one we want (A). SOHCAHTOA . I see the AH together, just after the C. C stands for cosine.
This means that the Cosine of 44° is equal to the ratio of the Adjacent/Hypotenuse [Cosine Adjacent Hypotenuse] or CAH.in SOHCAHTOA.
The formula is thus Cosine(44°) = A/90
(When finding the trig function of an angle, be careful with whether the input needed for the spreadsheet/calculator is in degrees or radians. If radians, remember that 180°=π radians.
Cos(44°) = 0.7193
0.7193 = A/90
A = 64.7 feet
You can use this approach on other problems you may have posted.
Bob
