Question

An engineer on the ground is looking at the top of a building. The angle of elevation to the top of a building is 38°. The engineer knows the building is 300 ft tall. What is the distance from the engineer to the base of the building to the nearest whole foot?

Answer 1

Let the distance of the engineer from the base of the building be x, then
tan 38 = 300/x
x = 300/tan 38 = 300/0.7813 = 383.98

Therefore, the distance from the engineer to the base of the building to the nearest whole foot is 384 feet.