An 8 foot metal guy wire is attached to a broken stop sign to secure its position until repairs can be made. Attached to a stake in the ground, the guy wire makes an angle of 51º with the ground. How far from the foot of the stop sign is the stake, to the nearest tenth of a foot?

Explanation:

The guy wire is making a right angled triangle  with the ground and stop sign . It makes an angle of 51 degree with the ground. In this triangle stop sign is the perpendicular and distance from the base on the ground forms the base of the triangle . Wire forms the hypotenuse.

base / hypotenuse = cos51

base = hypotenuse x cos51

= 8 x cos51

= 5.03 ft .

The distance of the stake with which guy wire was attached from the foot of the stop sign is 5.03 ft .