Steve is on a cliff 100 meters above sea level and sees 2 ships east. The angle of depression to the ships are 17 and 32 . Find, to the nearest tenth of a meter, the distance between the two ships.

Answer 1

Draw a figure!

Let x = distance to nearer ship and y be the distance between the ships.

x+y = 100 tan 32°

and x = 100 tan 17°