An aerial photograph is taken of a building. The photograph is made when the angle of elevation of the sun is 34 degrees. The shadow is determined to be 80 feet long. How tall is the building?
To find the height of the building, we can use trigonometry and the given information.
Let's assume the height of the building is h feet. The angle of elevation of the sun is 34 degrees, so the angle between the shadow and the horizontal is also 34 degrees.
Using the tangent function, we have:
tan(34 degrees) = h / 80 feet
h = 80 feet * tan(34 degrees)
h = 80 feet * 0.6859
h ≈ 54.87 feet
Therefore, the height of the building is approximately 54.87 feet.