Kristen Lidwell

Abser Halim
Karly Gallis
Emma Burgin
Patrick Osantowske
Precalculus 11C
25 September 2012
Outside Math Activity
Our team consisted of Kristen, Abser, Karly, Emma, and Patrick. The five of us were
given four tasks to complete using only a transom to measure angles and a large tape measure to
find distances. In the first of these tasks, we used the transom and a set of directions. We had to
find out where we would end up after we followed them. The next involved finding the height of
a flagpole, not by measuring it, but by measuring its shadow and the height of one of our
classmates. The third task had us find the distance between two marked poles, but we could not
directly measure that distance. We had to measure other distances and angles that we could find
without going into the street. The fourth seemed nearly impossible: find the circumference of the
earth. However, we found out that we could do this by measuring objects more within our reach.
These four objectives will be discussed individually throughout the paper.
For the first part of the project, we were to practice using the transom and the tape
measure. First, an original reference point was to be selected. Then, we traveled 50 feet on a
bearing of 40. From the new point, we traveled another 50 meters on a bearing of 160 meters.
After thatwe traveled another 50 meters on a bearing of 280. Figure 1 shows a diagram of what
should have been our path.

Figure 1. Theoretical Diagram of Our Path
With the directions given, we should have arrived at the original point. However, we had arrived
at a point that was 16.5 feet off by a bearing of -60 in relation to the original point.
For Question 2, we were asked to find the height of the flagpole in front of MMSTC.
Since we could not physically measure the height of the pole, we decided to find the height of a
fellow student, Andrew Baran, using a measuring tape and the length of his shadow created by
the angle of the Sun. We then used his height, shadow length, and angle from the Sun to compare
with the flagpoles shadow length and angle. Since both were measured within a five minute
time span, we assumed the two angle measurements were the same.



Figure 2. Diagram of Andrew Barans Height
Figure 2 shows how we found the angle of the Sun using Andrews height (6.2 feet) and
shadow length (6.9 feet) by creating a triangle. We could then use the tangent trig ratio in the
following way:

Figure 3. Calculating the Height of the Flagpole
Figure 3 shows how we calculated the height of the flagpole using the values we already
found. We measured the length of the poles shadow and found that it was 36.5 feet long. Since
the flagpole shares the same angle of the Sun with Andrew, we used the same angle measure
(41.9413 feet) to find the height in a similar fashion as before.

After we calculated the height of the flagpole using our own measurements, we found that the
actual height of the flagpole is 35 feet, meaning that we miscalculated the height by about 2.2
feet. In theory, our method should have given us the correct height, meaning that our errors all lie
in our length measurements of Andrew, his shadow, and the flagpoles shadow. Considering the
devices we used to measure and our other circumstances however, the result we found for
Question 2 is fairly accurate.
For Problem 3, we approached the situation by deciding to form a right triangle, so that
trig ratios could be used to find the distance between the two marked poles. First, we used the
transom to find the bearing from the pole across the street, and the one on our side of the street.
To do this, we made the pole on our side of the street the origin, and made north the direction of
us facing the other side of the road where the other pole was. By using the transom, we came up
with a bearing of 30, therefore making the actual angle in the right triangle 60. Next, we made
the right triangle by using our transom, and the two marked poles for the three points. By looking
through the transom straw, we were able to line up all the poles, so that the transom was exactly
in line with the pole on our side of the street, and the pole across the street, creating the right
angle. We continued by measuring the distance between the transom and the pole on our side of
the street, which now formed a straight line, using the tape measure. We came up with a measure
of 29.8 feet. This situation is shown in Figure 4.


Figure 4. Right Triangle Created by the Poles
This gave us enough information to use the cosine ratio, adjacent over hypotenuse. The theta
value was 60, the adjacent side was the 29.8 feet, and the unknown distance between the two
marked poles was the hypotenuse. We plugged the values into the equation, as shown below, and
came up with the distance.

The distance between the marked poles that we calculated was 59.6 feet. The true distance
between the poles was 67 feet. The answer we got was not the same, and actually 7.4 feet off
from the true answer. This is most likely due to inaccurate angle and distance measurements,
which could have been fixed if more care had been taken in completing the measurements.
Overall though, Problem 3 was a success.
For problem 4, it was asked of us to find the circumference of the Earth. This may seem
like a challenging task, but Eratosthenes was able to accomplish this in the 3
rd
century B.C. To
do this, Eratosthenes looked into a well at noon on a specific day, the solstice. On the same day,
in a different place, in a different year, he looked into another well that was on the same
longitude as the previous well. He found the difference in the length of the shadows and that told
him the difference between the angles at which the sun was shining on the different spots on the
h = 59.6 ft
Earth. He then set up a proportion to figure out the circumference of the Earth. We will follow
his method to do this. We used Andrew Barans height and shadow length of 6.2 and 6.9 feet
respectively. Now, another person just as tall will need to be north or south of Baran on the same
longitude by at least 300 miles. The other person will measure the length of their shadow and
find the angle the same we found ours, using tangent. After we found both angles and the
distance between the two people, we set up a proportion. The proportion is the difference of the
two angles over 360 is equal to the distance between the two points over the circumference of
the earth. This can be seen in the equation below. Using that we can solve for the circumference
of the Earth.

For example, if we had someone in Kingsport, Tennessee do this, they would measure the
shadow that is made from the person 6.2 feet tall. They would then find the angle using tangent.
The distance between Warren and Kingsport is 413 miles and the circumference of the Earth is
about 24,900 miles. Because we dont know the angle of the sun in Kingsport, we can solve for it
instead of the circumference of the Earth. This can be seen in the following equation where x is
the angle of the sun in Kingsport.

X comes out to be about 35.9702. This makes sense because 6/360 is roughly the same
as 413/24900. Overall, finding the circumference of the Earth the same way Eratosthenes did
was relatively easy.

Over the course of this activity, our group learned several things. Firstly, we discovered
that we could have improved the correctness of our answers by taking more care in the
measuring itself. We also concluded that more practice with the transom in particular would have
been beneficial. This activity taught us that teamwork is important and that each person has a
different perspective when it comes to deciding how to solve problems. When deciding how to
go about these tasks, we would all pitch in ideas, and then talk it out to see which would work
the best for us as a team. We would use our individual skills to create a team that worked
together very well. This activity proved to us once again how both teamwork and mathematics
are evident in everyday life.

http://outreach.as.utexas.edu/marykay/assignments/eratos1.html
http://io9.com/5587641/measuring-the-circumference-of-the-world