MHB What is the Height of the Washington Monument from a Distance of 1000 Feet?

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To determine the height of the Washington Monument from a distance of 1000 feet with an angle of elevation of 29.05°, the tangent function is used. The formula tan(29.05°) = M/1000 relates the height of the monument (M) to the distance. By rearranging the equation, M can be calculated as M = 1000 * tan(29.05°). This results in the height of the monument being approximately 17.4 feet when rounded to the nearest half foot. The discussion emphasizes the use of trigonometry to solve real-world height measurements.
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From a point level with and 1000 feet away from the base of the Washington Monument, the angle of elevation to the top of the monument is 29.05°. Determine the height of the monument to the nearest half foot.

Here is the set up.

Let M = height of monument to the nearest half foot.

tan (29.05°) = M/1000

Yes?
 
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Yes, tangent is "opposite side divided by near side". You have a right triangle in which one angle, at your eye, is 29.05 degree. The "near side" is the distance from you to the base of the monument and the "opposite side" is the Washington Monument itself.
 
Country Boy said:
Yes, tangent is "opposite side divided by near side". You have a right triangle in which one angle, at your eye, is 29.05 degree. The "near side" is the distance from you to the base of the monument and the "opposite side" is the Washington Monument itself.

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Here is a little puzzle from the book 100 Geometric Games by Pierre Berloquin. The side of a small square is one meter long and the side of a larger square one and a half meters long. One vertex of the large square is at the center of the small square. The side of the large square cuts two sides of the small square into one- third parts and two-thirds parts. What is the area where the squares overlap?

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