What is the length of the ramp?

Question

A ramp for the disabled is to be constructed to allow access to a building entrance. 

The angle of elevation must be 12°.

The height at the end of the ramp must be 14 inches off the ground.

What must be the length of the ramp?

Answer 1

The height is the opposite side, and the length is the adjacent side, to the 12° angle.

The trig ratio that uses these two sides is tan

So, 14/x = tan12°

x = 14/tan12° = 65.9 inches

Answer 2

So Chris R.

Think of this as a geometry/trigonometry problem! You have a ramp describing essentially the hypotenuse of a right triangle, whose small side is 14 inches. The opposite angle is given as 12 degrees, which you must (probably) convert to radians before input to the appropriate trig function. Exactly what more do you need?

-- Cheers, --Mr. d.