Height of Object from Angle of Elevation Using Sine

laser distance r

100

elevation angle θ (degrees)

30

You can find the height

h

of an object from the angle of elevation

θ

and the distance

r

to the top.

In this Demonstration, the object is an obelisk, and the distance

r

is found using a laser range finder.

The sine of an angle

θ

in a right triangle is the length of the opposite side divided by the hypotenuse. In this case,

sinθ=h/r

. Therefore, the height of the obelisk is given by

h=rsinθ

.