Q:

A person whose eye level is 1.5 meters above the ground is standing 75 meters from the base of the jin mao building in shanghai, china. the person estimates the angle of elevation to the top of the building is about 80º. what is the approximate height of the building

Accepted Solution

A:
see the picture in the attached figure to better understand the problem

we know that
 in the right triangle ABC
tan 80°=opposite side angle 80°/adjacent side angle 80°
tan 80°=BC/AC----->BC=AC*tan 80°-----> BC=75*tan 80°---> BC=425.35 m

the approximate height of the building=BC+eye level
the approximate height of the building=425.35+1.5----> 426.85 m

the answer is
the approximate height of the building is 426.85 m