To measure the height of the cloud cover at an airport, a worker shines a spotlight upward at an angle of \( 80^{\circ} \) from the horizontal. An observer 732 m away measures the angle of elevation to the spot of light to be \( 49^{\circ} \). Find the height of the cloud cover. height = Report answer accurate to 2 decimal places.
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To find the height of the cloud cover, we can use trigonometric relationships. Let's denote the height of the cloud cover as \( h \). First, set up the situation: the observer is 732 m away from the point directly under the cloud cover. This forms a right triangle, with the horizontal distance being one leg (732 m), the vertical height (h) as the other leg, and the line of sight to the spotlight as the hypotenuse. From the observer's point of view, we can use the tangent function relating the angle of elevation \(49^{\circ}\): \[ \tan(49^{\circ}) = \frac{h}{732} \] To solve for \( h \): \[ h = 732 \times \tan(49^{\circ}) \] Calculating \( \tan(49^{\circ}) \): \[ h \approx 732 \times 1.1504 \quad (\text{using a calculator}) \] \[ h \approx 842.42 \] Thus, the height of the cloud cover is approximately **842.42 m**.