A hot-air balloon is floating above a straight road. To calculate their height above the ground, the balloonists simultaneously measure the angle of depression to two consecutive mileposts on the road on the same side of the balloon. The angles of depression are found to be and .
How high (in feet) is the ballon?

I think I am drawing the picture wrong and I only have those two angles....Can I complete the problem with just those two angles?

2. Don't forgot there is a mile in-between those posts. So you have a length as well.

3. Originally Posted by Thomas
Don't forgot there is a mile in-between those posts. So you have a length as well.

So then do i have to add those 24 and 27 to get the other side?

4. Use Jhevon's diagram, it owns.

5. Originally Posted by MathNeedy18
A hot-air balloon is floating above a straight road. To calculate their height above the ground, the balloonists simultaneously measure the angle of depression to two consecutive mileposts on the road on the same side of the balloon. The angles of depression are found to be and .
How high (in feet) is the ballon?

I think I am drawing the picture wrong and I only have those two angles....Can I complete the problem with just those two angles?
i hope you know how to interpret the phrase, "angle of depression"

here's the diagram, now you have no excuse.

obviously we are going to use trig ratios to find the height, B. but to do that, we need the length of one of the sides of the right-triangle ABC. the easiest side to find is the hypotenuse, which we can find by using the law of sines