WAEC 2022 · Paper 1 · Q28

Elevation, depression & bearings

A boy $1.4\text{ m}$ tall stood $10\text{ m}$ away from a tree of height $12\text{ m}$ . Calculate, correct to the nearest degree, the angle of elevation of the top of the tree from the boy's eyes.

Worked solution (try it first)

Measure from the boy's eyes: the top of the tree is $12 - 1.4 = 10.6$ m higher, and 10 m away.
So $\tan\theta = \frac{10.6}{10} = 1.06$ .
So $\theta = \tan^{-1}1.06 \approx 46.7^\circ$ , which is $47^\circ$ to the nearest degree, option B.

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