A 1.5m tall boy is standing at some distance from a 32m tall building. The angle of elevation from his eyes to the top of the building increases from 30° to 60° as he walks towards the building. Find the distance he walked towards the building.

Answer: The distance the boy walked towards the building is 6133 m\frac{61\sqrt{3}}{3} \text{ m}.

Step-by-step solution

Step 1: Identify knowns and set up the diagram

Let PQPQ be the height of the building and RSRS be the height of the boy. The boy's eye level is RS=1.5 mRS = 1.5 \text{ m} from the ground. We need to find the height of the building from the boy's eye level, which is PTPT. We subtract the boy's height from the building's height to get PT=32−1.5=30.5 mPT = 32 - 1.5 = 30.5 \text{ m}.

Step 2: Use trigonometry in the first triangle

Consider the right-angled triangle △PTU\triangle PTU, where PTPT is the height of the building from the boy's eye level, and TUTU is the initial distance from the boy to the building. The angle of elevation is 30∘30^{\circ}. We use the tangent function, tan⁡θ=oppositeadjacent\tan \theta = \frac{\text{opposite}}{\text{adjacent}}, to find TUTU.

Step 3: Use trigonometry in the second triangle

Next, consider the right-angled triangle △PTW\triangle PTW, where PTPT is the same height, and TWTW is the distance from the boy to the building after he walks closer. The new angle of elevation is 60∘60^{\circ}. Again, we use the tangent function to find TWTW.

Step 4: Calculate the distance walked

The distance the boy walked towards the building is the difference between his initial distance from the building (TUTU) and his final distance from the building (TWTW). We subtract TWTW from TUTU to find UWUW.

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