Question

Malaya is standing directly between a 90-foot tall courthouse and a 54-foot tall bank. If the angle of elevation from the point where Malaya is standing to the top of the courthouse is 72°, while the angle of elevation to the top of the bank is 35°. What is the distance between the courthouse and the bank?

Answer 1

Explanation:

Draw a picture.

c and b are Malaya’s distance from the courthouse and bank, respectively.

tan(72°) = c/90

c = 90tan(72°)

tan(35°) = b/54

b = 54tan(35°)

Distance between courthouse and bank = c+b

= 90tan(72°) + 54tan(35°)

= 301.5 ft