Brian's kite is flying at the end of 82 feet of string. his end of string, is 3 feet off the ground. the angle of elevation of the kite is 55 degrees. what is the height of the kite?

 I don't really know how to explain my work so I will post a picture of my work.  I basically made a right triangle with the length of the string being the hypotenuse and solved for x.  I then added 3 to x since he is holding the string 3 feet off of the ground.
I hope this helps.  Let me know in the comments if anything is unclear.

The power of the root of the power of a variable can be written as a rational power by creating a rational exponent that is the product of the powers divided by the root. The rational exponent should be reduced to lowest terms. For example, the seventh power of the sixth root of the fifth power of x will be x^(7*5/6) = x^(35/6).
hope it helps