A zipline drops 30 feet from one treetop to a second treetop. If the angle of inclination from the shorter tree to the taller tree is 10 degrees, how long is the zipline?

Question

A zipline drops 30 feet from one treetop to a second treetop. If the angle of inclination from the shorter tree to the taller tree is 10 degrees, how long is the zipline?

  

 

 

Answer 1

The first picture is the correct one for this problem.

sin(10°) = 30/x

x = 30/sin(10°) ≈172.76 feet