i have a trigonometry word problem its asking ( Steve wants to find out the height of a pole that is sitting on the roof of a nearby building. The angle of elevation from the ground to the top of pole is 40 degrees. The angle of elevation from the ground to the bottom of the pole is 28 degrees. The distance on the ground between Steve and the building is 30 metres. How tall is the pole? ) Can someone who me how to do this thank you very much!
2007-06-03 17:57:43 · 2 answers · asked by crocop49 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
imagine two right trianglles with the 90 degree angle at the bottom of the building, and one corner 30 meters away at steve.
the top of the pole can be found out from the tangen. remeber that the tangent of an angle = opposite / adjacent.
so tan40= top / 30.
how high the bottom of the pole is can be found the same way
so tan 28 = bottom/ 30
the height if the pole can be found out from the difference between those answers
2007-06-03 18:21:58 · answer #1 · answered by Piglet O 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The bldg and pole make one vertical side of your rt triangle. The other side (horizontal) is 35 meters.
You'll use a tan function: tan 28 = [bldg ht] / 35
tan 40 = [bldg ht + pole ht] / 35
Solve for the bracketed quantity in each equat'n then subtract the top solution [bldg ht] from the bottom solution and get your pole height to be about 10.76 meters.
2007-06-04 01:23:39 · answer #2 · answered by answerING 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋