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Problem of the Week

Problem E and Solutions
In the Spotlight
Problem
In an art gallery, a 2 m high painting, BT , is
mounted on a wall with its bottom edge 1 m above
the floor. A spotlight is mounted at S, 3 m out
from the wall and 4 m above the floor. Determine
T SB, accurate to 1 decimal place.

S
T
2m

4m

B
1m
W

3m

Solution 1
Let X be the point on SF such that BX is
parallel to W F . Then BX = W F = 3,
XF = W B = 1, and XS = 3 follows.
4BXS is an isosceles right-angled triangle, and
so BSX = 45 .

T
3

2
B

1
W

X
1

F
S

Let Y be the point on SF such that T Y is parallel

to W F . Then T Y = W F = 3, Y F = W T = 3,
and Y S = 1 follows. Since 4T Y S is right-angled,
tan(T SY ) = TSYY = 31 = 3 and so T SY 71.6 .

T SB = T SY BSX 71.6 45 =
26.6 .

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Solution 2
Let X be the point on SF such that BX is
parallel to W F . Then BX = W F = 3,
XF = BW = 1, and XS = 3 follows.
Therefore, 4BXS is an isosceles right-angled
triangle, and so BSX = 45 .

T
3

2
3

B
1

Let Y be the point on SF such that T Y is

parallel to W F . Then T Y = W F = 3,
Y F = T W = 3, and Y S = 1 follows.
4T Y S is right-angled and therefore, by the
Pythagorean Theorem,
T S 2 =T Y 2 + SY 2 = 32 + 12 = 10 and so
T S = 10, since T S > 0.

F
S

1
T

Draw in T F . 4T W F is right angled and so by thePythagorean Theorem,

T F 2 = T W 2 + W F 2 = 32 + 32 = 18 and so T F = 18, since T F > 0.
Now we will use the cosine law in 4T SF .
S

T F 2 = T S 2 + SF 2 2(T S)(SF ) cos (T SF )

18 = 10 + 42 2( 10)(4) cos (T SF )

18 10 16 = 8 10 cos (T SF )

8 = 8 10 cos (T SF )
1
= cos (T SF )
10
T SF 71.6
Thus, T SB = T SF BSX 71.6 45 =
26.6 .

10
T

18