Review question

What's this angle of elevation given two others? Add to your resource collection Remove from your resource collection Add notes to this resource View your notes for this resource

Ref: R7756

Suggestion

The angular elevation of the summit of a mountain is measured from three points on a straight level road. From a point due south of the summit the elevation is $\alpha$, from a point due east of it the elevation is $\beta$, and from the point of the road nearest to the summit the elevation is $\gamma$.

If the direction of the road makes angle $\theta$ east of north, prove that

1. $\tan\theta=\tan\alpha\cot\beta$

Before starting, it’s always a good idea to sketch out the problem. Here, we might do that as if we’re looking down on it. We could define $h$ as the height of the mountain, and then draw three more triangles with the elevation labelled.

Can you use the three different elevation triangles to get three different expressions for the mountain’s height $h$?

1. $\tan^2\gamma=\tan^2\alpha+\tan^2\beta$.

Are there any useful trigonometrical identities that we can use?