Question

a person is standing on top of a smaller building looking across the street at a taller building, which is 260 feet away horizontally. The angle of elavation from the top of the smaller building to the top of the building is 30 degrees and the angle of depression from the top of the smaller building to the base of the building is 20 degrees. how tall is the smaller building

Answer 1

The height of the smaller building is 94.63 feet, computed using the trigonometric ratios.

In the question, we take AB to be the taller building, where A is its top and B is its base, CD to be the shorter building, where C is its top and D is its base, and CE to be the perpendicular from C to AB.

Given that the horizontal distance between the two buildings is 260 feet, we can say that BC = CE = 260 feet.

The angle of elevation from the top of the shorter building to the top of the taller building is 30°, that is, ∠ECA = 30°.

The angle of depression from the top of the shorter building to the base of the taller building is 20°, that is, ∠ECB = 20°.

When ∠ECB = 20°, then ∠CBD = 20°, as they are alternate angles.

We are asked to find the height of the shorter building, that is, we are asked to find CD.

In ΔCBD,

tan ∠CBD = CD/BD {perpendicular/base},

or, tan 20° = CD/260,

or, CD = 260*tan 20° = 260*0.36397023426 {∵ tan 20° = 0.36397023426},

or, CD = 94.6322609092.

Therefore, the height of the smaller building is 94.63 feet, computed using the trigonometric ratios.

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