From the top of a pole house A in a street, the angles of elevation and…

20202020

From the top of a pole house A in a street, the angles of elevation and depression of the top and foot of house B on the opposite side of the street are 60° and 30°, respectively. If the height of pole house A is 21 m, then what is the height (in m) of house B? (correct to one decimal place)

  1. A.

    84

  2. B.

    57.5

  3. C.

    47.8

  4. D.

    49.8

Attempted by 26 students.

Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: A

Given:
Height of pole house A = 21 m
Angle of depression from top of A to foot of B = 30°
Angle of elevation from top of A to top of B = 60°
Let the distance between the houses be x m.
From the angle of depression:
tan 30° = 21/x
1/√3 = 21/x
x = 21√3
Now, let the height of house B be h m.
Difference in heights:
= h − 21
Using angle of elevation:
tan 60° = (h − 21)/(21√3)
√3 = (h − 21)/(21√3)
Cross multiply:
h − 21 = 21 × 3
h − 21 = 63
h = 84 m
Since the obtained answer does not match the options, let us verify carefully.
Using:
Distance = 21√3 ≈ 36.37
Now,
tan 60° = (h − 21)/36.37
√3 = (h − 21)/36.37
h − 21 = 36.37 × 1.732
≈ 63
h ≈ 84 m
The options provided do not contain the correct value.

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