A laser range finder records the distance from the laser to

A laser range finder records the distance from the laser to the base and from the laser to the top the building as shown in Figure 3.3. Figure 3.3: Range finder used to find height of a building. The range finder is 35 ft away from the building and finds that the distance to the top of the building is 50 ft.

Solution

height of the building:

from the fig, cos(theta) = 35/50

theta = 45.573 degrees

Now, tan (theta) = h/35

or h = 35*tan(45.573) = 35.707 feet