The Sun's Angle

Elevation works backwards too: from two lengths you can find the angle. The sun's angle of elevation is the angle its rays make with the ground, and any upright object and its shadow give it.

A person 1.8 m tall casts a shadow 3.1 m long. The height is opposite the sun's angle and the shadow is adjacent, so $\tan\left(\theta\right) = \frac{1.8}{3.1}$ and $\theta = \arctan\left(\frac{1.8}{3.1}\right)$, about 30.14°. A short shadow means a high sun: at noon in midsummer shadows are short, and in winter the sun stays low and every shadow is long.