1. 7.7 ANGLE OF ELEVATION AND DEPRESSION
Key Words to Look for:
Height/Altitude - must be a vertical line.
Shadow – on the ground, must be a horizontal line
Tree from base of building
Car from base of tree horiz. Line
Bench from base of tower
4. Angle of Elevation – bottom angle
5. Angle of Depression – top angle

2. Notes 7.7: Applications of Trigonometric Functions
Angle of Elevation: Bottom Angle
“observer sights a plane from a boat”
Angle of Elevation

3. Example: An observer in an airport control tower sights an airplane at an angle of elevation 32 degrees. The pilot reports the plane’s altitude as 3.5 km. What is the airplane’s horizontal ground distance from the tower?

4. Example: A meteorologist measures the angle of elevation of a weather balloon as 41 degrees. A radio signal from the balloon indicates that it is 1503 m from his location. To the nearest meter, how high above the ground is the balloon?

5. Angle of depression: Top angle “looking down from a plane at a boat”

6. Example: An airplane pilot signs a life raft
Example: An airplane pilot signs a life raft. The angle of depression is 26 degrees and the plane’s altitude is 3 km. What is the plane’s distance from the raft?

7. Example: The angle of depression of a bench from the top of a building is 75 degrees. If the building is 300 feet tall, how far is the bench from the base of the building?