Question

A building 240 feet tall casts a 40 foot long shadow. If a person stands at the end of the shadow and looks up to the top of the building, what is the angle of the person's eyes to the top of the building (to the nearest hundredth of a degree)? (Assume the person's eyes are 4 feet above ground level.)

Answer 1

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Answer:

80.38°

Explanation:

The relevant trig relation is ...

Tan = Opposite/Adjacent

The person is standing 40 ft from the building. The point they're looking at is 236 ft above their eyes. So the angle α is found from ...

tan(α) = 236/40

α = arctan(236/40) ≈ 80.38°