An aeroplane at an altitude of 200m observes the angle of depression of opposite points on the two banks of a river to be 45 and 60 find the widht of river
Accepted Solution
A:
Answer: 84.5 mStep-by-step explanation:It is often helpful to draw a diagram for word problems involving geometric relationships. One for this problem is shown below.The mnemonic SOH CAH TOA reminds you of the relationship between sides of a right triangle: Tan = Opposite/AdjacentHere we're given angles of depression measured from the horizontal (as shown in the diagram), but it is more convenient to use angles measured from the vertical. In particular, ∠BAO is the complement of 60°, and its tangent is the ratio OB/OA: tan(30°) = OB/OA OB = (200 m)·tan(30°) ≈ 115.47 m . . . . . . multiply by OA, use OA=200 mLikewise, we have ... OC = (200 m)·tan(45°) = 200 mThen the width of the river is the difference between these values: BC = OC -OB = 200 m - 115.47 m = 84.53 m