Im trying to find the height of a building using right triangle trig. I know how to do this if I am standing on the ground on the other side, but in this particular case I'm standing on a cliff. How would I solve this problem?
Finding the height of a building using Right Triangle Trig?
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$\begingroup$
algebra-precalculus
trigonometry
1 Answers
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If $h_b$ is the height of the building and $h_c>h_b$ is the height of the cliff, we have:
$${h_c\over600}=\tan 60\longrightarrow h_c=600\tan60$$
and $${h_c-h_b\over600}=\tan23\longrightarrow h_b=h_c-600\tan23$$
hence $$h_b=600\tan60-600\tan23=600(\tan60-\tan23)\approx785ft$$