Aramp is 17 feet long, rises 8 feet above the floor, and covers a horizontal distance of 15 feet, as shown in the figure. the ratio of to is equal to tan b. nextreset

see the drawing in an attachment

x distance=15
y distance= 8
hypotenuse=17
sinB=8/17
cosB=15/17
tanB=sinB/cosB
tanB=8/15

First step is to get rid of the square root. remember that a square root is the same as raising to the (1/2) power. see below: multiply exponents per exponent rules to get: remember you subtract exponents from the denominator and add exponents in the numerator so: simplify further: so a is the correct choice. if you don't understand this google exponent rules and it will you understand. look at the image results.