A portion of a hiking trail slopes upward at about a 6 angle. To the nearest tenth of a foot, what is the value of x, the distance the hiker traveled along the path, if he has traveled a horizontal distance of 120 feet?
We can solve this with the cosine
cos(6°) = 120 / D where D is the distance traveled .... rearrange as
D = 120 / cos(6°) ≈ 120.66 ft
[ This is so because of the small angle of slope.....the cosine is almost 1 at 6° ]
