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HEIGHT AND DISTANCE

HEIGHT AND DISTANCE
Sometimes, we have to find the height of a tower, building, tree,
distance of a ship, width of a river, etc. Though we cannot measure
them easily, we can determine these by using trigonometric ratios.
Line of Sight
The line of sight or the line of vision is a straight line from our eye
to the object we are viewing.
If the object is above the horizontal from the eye, we have to lift
up our head to view the object. In this process, our eye move
through an angle. This angle is called the angle of elevation of the
object.
1: A person observed the angle of elevation of the top
of a tower is 30°. He walked 40 m towards the foot of the tower
along level ground and found the angle of elevation of the top of
the tower as 60° Find the height of tower.
Solution :
Let height of tower AB = x m and BC = y m, DC = 40 m.
In ABC,
A
x

30° 60°
D 40m C y B

AB x x
tan 60 3 y ....(i)
BC y 3

AB
Now In rt ABD, tan 30
Eye BD
Angle of elevation
x 1
If the object is below the horizontal from the eye, then we have to 40 y 3
turn our head downwards to view the object. In this process, our
eye move through an angle. This angle is called the angle of x
3x 40 y 3x 40 [using (i)]
depression of the object. 3
Angle of depression
3x 40 3 x 3x x 40 3 2x 40 3
Eye x 20 3m
Li
ne
of 2: As observed from top of a light house 100 m. high
s ig
ht above sea level, the angle of depression of a ship sailing directly
toward it changes from 30° to 45°. The distance travelled by the
ship during the period of observation is
Solution :
Let ‘y’ be the required distance between two positions O
and C of the ship
Ball In rt. ABC,
 A 2

A Top AC h
tan 60
30° BC x h
45°
h 60°
3
Light house x B C
30°
100 m In rt. BCD,
CD 8 8
30° 45° tan 30
BC x
O y C x B 1 8 x D
x 8 3
x 3 x
cot 45° = x 100 …(i)
100 Height of hill = h 8 3x 8 ( 3) (8 3) 8 32 m
y x
In AOB, cot 30 Distance of ship from hill = x 8 3m
100
5: A vertical to stands on a horizontal plane and is
y x 100 3 y 100 3 x surmounted by a vertical flag staff of height 6 meters. At point
on the plane, the angle of elevation of the bottom and the top of the
y 100 3 100 [using (i)]
flag staff are respectively 30° and 60°. Find the height of tower.
y 100( 3 1) Solution :
Let AB be the tower of height h meter and BC be the height
y 100(1.732 1) = 100 0.732 = 73.20 m. of flag staff surmounted on the tower.
3 : A 25 m long ladder is placed against a vertical Let the point of the plane be D at a distance m meter from
the foot of the tower.
wall of a building. The foot of the ladder is 7 m from the base of In ABD,
the building. If the top of the ladder slips 4 m, then the foot of the C
ladder will slide by how much distance.
Solution : 5m
Let the height of the wall be h. B

4 h

25 60°
h
30°
D x A

AB 1 h
R tan 30 x 3h ........... (i)
Q AD 3 x
7 x S
In ADC,
2 2 AC 5 h 5 h
Now, h 25 – 7 tan 60 3 x .......... (ii)
AD x 3
576 24m

QS 625 – 400 5 h
From (i) and (ii), 3h 3h = 5 + h 2h = 5
3
225 15m 5
Required distance, x = (15 – 7) = 8 m h= = 2.5 m
2
4: A man is standing on the deck of a ship, which is So, the height of tower = 2.5 m
8m above water level. He observes the angle of elevation of the 6: The angles of depressions of the top and bottom of
top of a hill as 60° and the angle of depression of the base of the 8m tall building fron the top of a multistoried building are 30°
hill as 30°. Calculate the distance of the hill from the ship and and 45° respectively. Find the height of multistoried building
the height of the hill. and the distance between the two buildings.
Solution : Solution :
Let AB be the multistoried building of height h and let the
Let x be the distance of hill from man and h + 8 be height of distance between two buildings be x meters.
hill which is required. XAC = ACB = 45° (Alternate angles)
In rt. ACB,
 3
XAD = ADE = 30° (Alternate angles)
x y 3000 3 ............. (ii)
AE 1 h 8
In ADE, tan 30 From eqs. (i) and (ii)
ED 3 x
[ CB = DE = x] x 3000 3000 3 x 3000 3 3000
x 3 ( h 8) ........... (i) x 3000 ( 3 1) x 3000 (1.732 1)
In ACB, x 3000 0.732 x = 2196m
h h
tan 45 1 =h ........... (ii) Distance covered
x x Speed of aeroplane =
Time taken
A A C
X 30°
45°
h–8

30°
D
E h
3000m

8m

45°
C x B 30° 45°
E B D
From (i) and (ii), y x

3 (h 8) h 3h 8 3 h 2196
= m / sec 146.4 m / sec
15
3h h 8 3 h( 3 1) 8 3
2196 18
8 3 ( 3 1) 8 3( 3 1) = km / hr 527.04 km / hr
h h 15 5
3 1 3 1 2 Hence, the speed of aeroplane is 527.04 km/hr.
8: A boy is standing on the ground and flying a kite
h 4 3( 3 1) h 4(3 3) metres with 100m of string at an elevation of 30°. Another boy is stand-
From (ii), x = h ing on the roof of a 10m high building and is flying his at an
So, x 4(3 3) metres elevation of 45°. Both the boys are on opposite sides of both the
kites. Find the length of the string that the second boy must have
Hence, height of multistoried building = 4 (3 3) metres so that the two kites meet.
Solution :
distance between two building = 4 (3 3) metres.
Let the length of second string be x m.
7: The angle of elevation of an aeroplane from a In ABC,
point on the ground is 45°. After a flight of 15 sec, the elevation AC 1 AC
changes to 30°. If the aeroplane is flying at a height of 3000 sin 30 or AC 50m
AB 2 100
metres, find the speed of the aeroplane.
Solution : In AEF,
Let the point on the ground is E which is y metres from AF 1 AF FC
point B and let after 15 sec. flight it covers x metres sin 45
AE 2 x
distance
AB 1 50 10
In AEB, tan 45 [ AC = 50m, FC = ED = 10m]
EB 2 x
3000
1 y 3000m ............. (i) 1 40
y x 40 2m
2 x
CD 1 3000
In CED, tan 30
ED 3 x y

( AB CD)