Question

A man is standing 20 feet away from the base of a tree and looking at the top of a tree wondering it’s height. If the man’s eyes are located 6 feet off the ground and the angle of elevation is 67°, how tall is the tree? Round to the nearest tenth of a foot.

Answer 1

Answer: 53.1ft

Explanation:

We can draw a triangle rectangle.

Where the distance between the man and the tree is one cathetus, (the vertex is on the man's eyes)

The tree itself is the other cathetus, and the line that connects the man's eyes and the tip of the tree is the hypotenuse.

We know that:

The angle at the vertex of the man's eyes is 67°

And the adjacent cathetus, the distance between the man and the tree, is 20ft.

Then using the relation:

Tan(A) = (opposite cathetus)/(adjacent cathetus)

We can find the height of the treee:

Tan(67°) = X/20ft

Tan(67°)*20ft = X = 47.1ft

But remember that this is measured from the mans eye's, and the man's eyes are 6ft away from the ground.

Then the height of the tree is 47.1ft + 6ft = 53.1ft