Given data:

H=
L =
=

57.7
0.5
0.2

ft
ft
deg

For this building height, we are to vary (and therefore L ) to minimize the uncertainty u H.

Plotting u H vs

5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
85

uH
4.02%
2.05%
1.42%
1.13%
1.00%
0.95%
0.96%
1.02%
1.11%
1.25%
1.44%
1.70%
2.07%
2.62%
3.52%
5.32%
10.69%

Uncertainty in Height (H = 57.7 ft) vs

12%
10%
8%
uH

(deg)

6%
4%
2%
0%
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

(o)

Optimizing using Solver

(deg)
31.4

uH
0.947%

To find the optimum as a function of building height H we need a more complex Solver
(deg)

50
75
100
125
175
200
250
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000

29.9
34.3
37.1
39.0
41.3
42.0
43.0
43.5
44.1
44.4
44.6
44.7
44.8
44.8
44.9

uH
0.992%
0.877%
0.818%
0.784%
0.747%
0.737%
0.724%
0.717%
0.709%
0.705%
0.703%
0.702%
0.701%
0.700%
0.700%

Use Solver to vary ALL 's to minimize the total u H!

Total u H's:

11.3%

Optimum Angle vs Building Height

50
40
(deg)

H (ft)

30
20
10
0
0

100

200

300

400

500
H (ft)

600

700

800

900

1000