Grade 11 Trigonometry Problem

[needshelp]

I can't figure out this question, and have no clue how to solve either a or b.

Thanks in advance, and any help is appreciated.

 

[jacket81]

problems

Let a be distance from blimp D to a point on the ground such that it would be perpendicular to ground. And let x be distance from that point to station B.
Then you can see that tan32 = a/(5+x) and tan(180-119) = a/x.
Can you solve it from there?

 

[needshelp]

the math that you are doing, doesn't look familiar to me, so I am still confused.

 

[jacket81]

problem

Im sorry, your class hasn't learned about the tangent function?

 

[needshelp]

all we have learned about tan is that it is tan=opp/adj. (Which was in grade 10).

Maybe you can help me with this. If it is asking for the altitude of each blimp, where would that be labelled on the graph? To me it would seem like the altitude should be perpendicular to the ground.

 

[Unco]

G'day, Needshelp.

Can you see where Jacket's equations come from?

If we consider blimp D's altitude, we can consider two right-angled triangles:

\(\displaystyle \L \tan{32} = \frac{a}{5 + x}\) comes from triangle ADE,

and \(\displaystyle \L \tan{61} = \frac{a}{x}\) comes from triangle BDE.

 

[needshelp]

I get it now thanks for your help How are you all so good at math?