Question

The angles of elevation froma point X to the top of flagpoles A and B are 35* and 45* respectively. If X lies in the middle of the flagpoles, find the ratio of the heights of the two flagpoles. Give your answer as a decimal, correct to 1 decimal place.

Answer 1

Let AB = t. And since X lies in the middle, so AX=BX = t/2 .

Let the height of the smaller flagpole is AO and of larger flagpole is BP .

Using tangent ratio rule in each triangle, we will get

`image`

And there ratio is

`(AO)/(BP)= (tan 35)/(tan 45)=(0.7)/(1)`