silemus.

14Angle of elevation, right triangle

From a point 50 m from the foot of a building, the angle of elevation to the top is 28°. Find the height of the building. Give the answer to 1 decimal place.

The building is about 26.6 m tall. Using the right triangle with the 50 m distance as adjacent and height h as opposite, tan(28°) = h/50, so h = 50·tan(28°) ≈ 26.6 m. Checking: tan⁻¹(26.6/50) ≈ 28.0°.

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