Trig Question with angles of elevation

linear algebratrigonometry

A UFO is flying above two people standing on the ground at points A and B.

A and B are 300m apart.

The angle of elevation of UFO from A is 30 degrees

The angle of elevation of the UFO from B is 23 degrees

Find height of UFO above ground.

I got something like 480m but apparently that's wrong, I'm really not sure how I've gone wrong, if anyone could help that would be great!

Best Answer

Let $h$ be the height of the UFO. If you consider the triangle $AUB$ you can find the $h$ as below:enter image description here

$x=\frac{h}{\tan(23)}$ and $y=\frac{h}{\tan(30)}$.

$x+y=300 \rightarrow \frac{h}{\tan(30)}+\frac{h}{\tan(23)}=300$

Related Question