At a distance of 200 feet, a RADAR beam with an 11-degree angle will be how wide?

To determine the width of a RADAR beam at a specific distance, you can use the angle of the beam. The formula to find the width is derived from basic trigonometry, specifically using the tangent of half the beam's angle.

In this scenario, the RADAR beam has an 11-degree angle. The width at a distance can be found using the following steps:

1. First, find the half-angle: 11 degrees divided by 2 equals 5.5 degrees.

2. Calculate the tangent of that angle. The tangent of 5.5 degrees is approximately 0.0962.

3. To find the width at 200 feet, multiply the tangent value by the distance. So, you compute 200 feet multiplied by 2 times the tangent of 5.5 degrees, since the angle relates to both sides of the centerline of the beam.

2 * 200 feet * tan(5.5 degrees) = 200 feet * 0.1924 = approximately 38.48 feet.

This calculation confirms that at a distance of 200 feet, the width of the RADAR beam will be approximately 38 feet, which aligns with the chosen answer. The understanding of the relationship between