Question

An engineer on the ground is looking at the top of a building. The angle of elevation to the top of the building is 22°. The engineer knows the building is 450 ft tall. What is the distance from the engineer to the base of the building to the nearest whole foot?

Answer 1

Let the distance of the engineer from the base of the building be x, then
tan 22 = 450/x
x = 450/tan 22 = 450/0.4040 = 1,113.79

Therefore, the distance of the engineer from the base of the building to the nearest foot is 1,114 feet.