SOME APPLICATION

OF TRIGNOMETRY

Adarsh
Pandey
X-B
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INTRODUCTION
 Trigonometry is the branch of mathematics that
deals with triangles particularly right triangles. For
one thing trigonometry works with all angles and not
just triangles. They are behind how sound and light
move and are also involved in our perceptions of
beauty and other facets on how our mind works. So
trigonometry turns out to be the fundamental to
pretty much everything

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 BASIC FUNDAMENTALS
 Angle of Elevation: In the picture below,
an observer is standing at the top of a
building is looking straight ahead
(horizontal line). The observer must raise
his eyes to see the airplane (slanting line).
This is known as the angle of elevation.

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 Angle of Depression: The angle below horizontal that an
observer must look to see an object that is lower than
the observer. Note: The angle of depression is congruent
to the angle of elevation (this assumes the object is
close enough to the observer so that the horizontals for
the observer and the object are effectively parallel).

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 300
2a 2a

600
600

If θ is an angle
The 90-θ is it’s complimentary angle
1
Sine 45 
2
1
Cos 45 
2
1
Tan 45   1
1
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A trigonometric function is a ratio of certain parts of a triangle. The
names of these ratios are: The sine, cosine, tangent, cosecant, secant,
cotangent.
Let us look at this triangle…

Given the assigned letters to the sides and

B angles, we can determine the following
trigonometric functions.
c
The Cosecant is the inversion of the
a sine, the secant is the inversion of
the cosine, the cotangent is the
ө A inversion of the tangent.
C b
With this, we can find the sine of the
Side Opposite a value of angle A by dividing side a
Sinθ= Hypothenuse = c by side c. In order to find the angle
itself, we must take the sine of the
Cos θ= Side Adjacent
Hypothenuse =
b
c angle and invert it (in other words,
find the cosecant of the sine of the
Tan θ= Side Opposite
Side Adjacent = a
angle).
b
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 h
Tan 45   1;..or d  h - - - - - - - (1)
d
h  12
Tan 60   3  1.732      (2)
d 12
Substituting (1)..in (2)
h  12 h
 1.732;
h 60 45
12  1.732h  h  0.732h d
12
h  16.39 is also equals to d
0.732

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 The angle of elevation of the top of a tower from a
point At the foot of the tower is 300 . And after
advancing 150mtrs Towards the foot of the tower,
the angle of elevation becomes 600 .Find the height
of the tower
1 h
Tan 30      (1)
3 d
h
Tan 60  3     ( 2)
d  150
From (1) d  h 3
From ( 2) h
3 ( d  150)  h 30 60
Substituting..the..value..of ..d ..
150
3 ( h 3  150)  h
d
3h  150 3  h
3h  h  150 3
2h  150 3
h  75 *1.732  129.9m
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 Heights and Distances
How the following diagram
allows us to determine the
height of the Eiffel Tower
without actually having to climb
it or the distance between the
person and Eiffel Tower
without actually walking .
?
What you’re
going to do
? next?
45o
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In this situation , the distance or the heights can be
founded by using mathematical techniques, which comes
under a branch of ‘trigonometry’. The word ‘
trigonometry’ is derived from the Greek word ‘tri’
meaning three , ‘gon’ meaning sides and ‘metron’
meaning measures.

Trigonometry is concerned with the relationship between

the angles and sides of triangles. An understanding of
these relationships enables unknown angles and sides to
be calculated without recourse to direct measurement.
Applications include finding heights/distances of
objects.

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Early Beginning u
s es o f
trigonometry for
determining heigh
ts a n d
distances

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 Trigonometry (Three-angle-measure)

THE GREAT PYRAMID (CHEOPS) AT GIZA, NEAR CAIRO, ONE OF

THE 7 WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORD. (THE ONLY ONE STILL
SURVIVING).THIS IS THE ONE OF THE EARLIEST USE OF
TRIGONOMETRY. PEOPLE USE TRIGONOMETRY FOR DETERMINING
HEIGHT OF THISBY-ADARSH
PYRAMID.
PANDEY X-B BY- ADARSH PANDEY X-B
 Trigonometry
An early application of trigonometry was made by Thales on a
visit to Egypt. He was surprised that no one could tell him the
height of the 2000 year old Cheops pyramid. He used his
Thales of Miletus knowledge of the relationship between the heights of objects
640 – 546 B.C. The
first Greek and the length of their shadows to calculate the height for
Mathematician. He them. (This will later become the Tangent ratio.) Can you see what
predicted the Solar
Eclipse of 585 BC. this relationship is, based on the drawings below?

h 480 ft
720 ft

Similar Similar 6 ft
Triangles Triangles
9 ft
Sun’s rays casting shadows late afternoon

x
Sun’s rays casting shadows mid-afternoon

h
Thales may not have used similar triangles directly to solve the problem but
h that6the ratio of the 6
he knew 7 2
vertical 0to horizontal sides of each triangle was
 
constant and unchanging for 
different heights 4 8 0
of f
thet(
E g
y
sun.pti
an
Can fee
t
you ofc
useours
thee)
720 9
measurements shownBY-ADARSH
abovePANDEY
to find
9
X-B the height
BY- ADARSH of Cheops?
PANDEY X-B
Later, during the Golden Age of Athens (5 BC.), the philosophers and
mathematicians were not particularly interested in the practical side of mathematics
so trigonometry was not further developed. It was another 250 years or so, when the
centre of learning had switched to Alexandria (current day Egypt) that the ideas
behind trigonometry were more fully explored. The astronomer and mathematician,
Hipparchus was the first person to construct tables of trigonometric ratios. Amongst
his many notable achievements was his determination of the distance to the moon
with an error of only 5%. He used the diameter of the Earth (previously calculated
by Eratosthenes) together with angular measurements that had been taken during
the total solar eclipse of March 190 BC.

Eratosthenes Hipparchus of Rhodes

275 – 194 BC 190-120 BC
The library of Alexandria was the
foremost seat of learning in the world and
functioned like a university. The library
contained 600 000 manuscripts.
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 Early Applications of Trigonometry
Finding the height of a
mountain/hill.

Constructing sundials to Finding the distance to

estimate the time from the moon.
the sun’s shadow.
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Historically trigonometry was developed for work
in Astronomy and Geography. Today it is used
extensively in mathematics and many other areas
of the sciences.

• Surveying
• Navigation
• Physics
• Engineering

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 Angles. of Elevation and Depression

In this figure, the line AC

drawn from the eye of the C
student to the top of the
tower is called the line of
sight. The person is
looking at the top of the h t
tower. The angle BAC, so f sig
o

Tower
e
Lin
formed by line of sight
with horizontal is called
angle of elevation.
Angle of elevation
A
45o
BY-ADARSH PANDEY X-B Horizontal level
BY- ADARSH PANDEY X-B B
In this figure, the person standing on the top of the mountain
is looking down at a flower pot. In this case , the line of sight
is below the horizontal level. The angle so formed by the line
of sight with the horizontal is called the angle of depression.
A
Horizontal level
45o Lin
eo
fs
Angle of ig h
t
depression
Mountain

Object
C

B
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 Method of finding the heights or the distances
C

h t
f sig
e o
Li n

Tower
Angle of elevation
A 45o

Horizontal level B

Let us refer to figure of tower again. If you want to

find the height of the tower i.e. BC without actually
measuring it, what information do you need ?
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We would need to know the following:
i. The distance AB which is the distance between
tower and the person .
ii. The angle of elevation angle BAC .
Assuming that the above two conditions are given
then how can we determine the height of the
height of the tower ?
In ∆ABC, the side BC is the opposite side in
relation to the known angle A. Now, which of the
trigonometric ratios can we use ? Which one of
them has the two values that we have and the one
we need to determine ? Our search narrows down
to using either tan A or cot A, as these ratios
involve AB and BC.
Therefore, tan A = BC/AB or cot A = AB/BC,
which on solving would give us BC i.e., the height of
the tower.
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 Thank you

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