Standard Five – Middle Level Problems
Prompt: Two sightings 80 feet apart are taken to the top of a canyon wall. The angles
of elevation are 35.3 from the farther point and 38 for the location closer to the canyon
wall. How high is the top above the canyon floor?
B. Mierzwa’s, 2005
Prompt: If it takes 8 builders 6 days to build a barn, how long would it take 12 builders
to do the same job?
Answer: 4 days
Math’s Mate Gold, J.B. Wright, 1995
Prompt: An engineer is asked to design a water sprinkler that will cover a field of 100
square yards that is in the shape of a sector of a circle of radius 50 yards. Through
what angle should the sprinkler rotate?
Precalculus, Sullivan and Sullivan, 2006
Prompt: A ship is just offshore of New York City. A sighting is taken of the Statue of
Liberty, which is about 305 feet tall. If the angle of elevation to the top of the statue is 20
degrees, how far is the ship from the base of the statue?
Precalculus, Sullivan and Sullivan, 2006
Prompt: A straight trail with an inclination of 17 degrees leads from a hotel at an
elevation of 9000 feet to a mountain lake at an elevation of 11,200 feet. What is the
length of the trail?
Precalculus, Sullivan and Sullivan, 2006