Question 959560: If an observer is 600 feet from a building and the angle of elevation to the top of a building is 20 degrees, what is the height of the building? Round to the nearest tenth, if needed.
I'm having a really hard time with this one. I'm guessing the angle from the base of the building to the top is a 90 degree angle but I'm not completely sure since one of the angles is 20 degrees. I'm very confused. Thanks for the help!
Answer by rothauserc(4718)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! You are correct, this is a right triangle 90, 20, 70
note that the tangent trig function is defined as opposite side divided by the adjacent side of the formed triangle
for this problem we know the adjacent side is 600 feet and the angle is 20 degrees, therefore
tan(20) = opposite side (height of building) / 600 and
opposite side (height of building) = tan(20)*600 = 218.38214056
the height of the building is approx 218.4 feet
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