ANGLES OF

ELEVATION & DEPRESSION

Unit Circle: Part 2
 Lesson
Objectives
1. Solve problems involving
angles of elevation and
angles of depression.
 Let's
Review!
1. What is a unit 3. What are the 6
circle? trigonometric
2. What is the functions?
equation of a 4. How do we get the
circle in standard coordinates of an
form? angle?
 An angle of elevation is the angle
formed by a horizontal line and a
ANGLE OF line of sight to a point above the
line. In the diagram, 1 is the
ELEVATION angle of elevation from the tower T
to the plane P.
 An angle of depression is the
angle formed by a horizontal line
ANGLE OF and a line of sight to a point below
the line. 2 is the angle of
DEPRESSION depression from the plane to the
tower.
Since horizontal lines are parallel, 1  2 by
the Alternate Interior Angles Theorem.
Therefore, the angle of elevation from one
point is congruent to the angle of depression
from the other point.
Classify each angle as an
angle of elevation or an angle
of depression.

1
1 is formed by a horizontal line and a line of sight to a
point below the line. It is an angle of depression.
4
4 is formed by a horizontal line and a line of sight to a
point above the line. It is an angle of elevation.
2
2 is formed by a horizontal line and a line of sight to a
point above the line. It is an angle of elevation.
Use the diagram above to classify
each angle as an angle of elevation
or angle of depression.

5
5 is formed by a horizontal line and a line of
sight to a point below the line. It is an angle of
depression.
6
6 is formed by a horizontal line and a line of
sight to a point above the line. It is an angle of
elevation.
 ∠FLS ∠RTW

∠TWS
∠LST

∠DCB
∠WZP
∠ABC

∠ZPR
EXAMPLE
S
 1. A surveyor is standing 50 feet from the base of a large tree.
The surveyor measures the angle of elevation to the top of the
tree as 71.5°. How tall is the tree?

tan 71.5°

tan 71.5°
? 71.5°
y = 50 (tan 71.5°)
50
y = 50 (2.98868)
2. A person is 200 yards from a river. Rather than walk directly to the
river, the person walks along a straight path to the river’s edge at a 60°
angle. How far must the person walk to reach the river’s edge?

cos 60°
x (cos 60°) = 200
200
60° x
x

x = 400 yards
3. The Seattle Space Needle casts a 67-meter shadow. If the angle of elevation
from the tip of the shadow to the top of the Space Needle is 70º, how tall is the
Space Needle? Round to the nearest meter.
B

𝒚
𝐭𝐚𝐧 𝟕𝟎 ° =
𝟔𝟕
𝐲 =𝟔𝟕 𝐭𝐚𝐧 𝟕𝟎 ° y

𝒚 ≈ 𝟏𝟖𝟒 𝒎 70o
A
67 m
4. At the circus, a person in the audience at ground level watches the high-wire
routine. A 5-foot-6-inch tall acrobat is standing on a platform that is 25 feet off the
ground. How far is the audience member from the base of the platform, if the angle of
elevation from the audience member’s line of sight to the top of the acrobat is 27°?
5. Maria is at the top of a cliff and sees a seal in the water. If the
cliff is 40 feet above the water and the angle of depression is 52°,
what is the horizontal distance from the seal to the cliff, to the
nearest foot?

40
tan 52° =
𝑥
40
𝑥¿
tan 52 °
𝒙 ≈ 𝟑𝟏 . 𝟑 𝒇𝒕 .
6. A plane is at an altitude of 3500 feet and the angle of elevation from the
airport to the plane is 29°. What is the horizontal distance between the
plane and the airport? Round to the nearest foot.

3500
tan 29°=
𝑥
3500 3500 ft

𝑥¿
tan 29 ° 29°

𝒙 ≈𝟔𝟑𝟏𝟒 𝒇𝒕.
7. Vernon is on the top deck of a cruise ship and observes two dolphins
following each other directly away from the ship in a straight line.
Vernon’s position is 154 meters above sea level, and the angles of
depression to the two dolphins are 35° and 36°. Find the distance between
the two dolphins to the nearest meter.

219.93 – 211.96 = 7.97 m

Answer Time!
 1. A ranger sees another fire and 3°
the angle of depression to the
fire is 3°. What is the horizontal
distance to this fire? Round to
the nearest foot.

2. At a diving competition, a 6-foot-tall diver

stands atop the 32-foot platform. The front
edge of the platform projects 5 feet beyond
the ends of the pool. The pool itself is 50
feet in length. A camera is set up at the
opposite end of the pool even with the
pool’s edge. If the camera is angled so that
its line of sight extends to the top of the
diver’s head, what is the camera’s angle of
elevation to the nearest degree?
A. 37° B. 35° C. 40° D. 50°
3. Luisa is in a hot air balloon 30 feet
above the ground. She sees the
landing spot at an angle of depression
of 34. What is the horizontal distance
between the hot air balloon and the
landing spot to the nearest foot?
A. 19 ft B. 20 ft C.44 ft D. 58 ft
Thank You!
Any Questions?