Tryston Taylor

Math 1080

4/3/17

Height Project

General Principal I
1.

2. bTan ( )=h

Warm up Question
3. Picture
 4. Utilizing a tape measure to get the base, and a digital protractor (phone app) alongside a
thin slice of wood to adjust the perceived angle accordingly in order to get the angle of
elevation.
5.

=54
27.5ft
b=20ft
54
h=27.5ft
20f
t

Steps

20 tan ( 54 )=27.528
 6. Double checking my measurements and angle would be best, as well as utilizing the tape
measure accurately, creating a simulated angle of elevation then stepping back and
checking it with the digital protractor (phone app) to ensure a correct angle.

General Principle II
7.

s b

Derived Formula:
h h
h h tan ( )= =
tan ( )= b= b+ s h
b tan ( ) +s
tan( )

tan ( )
( tanh( ) )+( s ) tan ( ) =h
hTan ( )
sTan ( ) =h
hTan ( )

sTan( ) sTan ( ) tan()

h= =
tan ( ) tan ( )tan( )
1
tan ()
 Challenge Question
8. Picture

9.
=22
=30
s=1 mile 1.346

h=1.346 miles or 7,107 feet. 22 30

1m

Steps:
1 tan ( 22 ) tan (30 )
= 1.346=h
tan ( 30 ) tan (22)
 10. Several steps I would take to ensure accuracy is double checking my angles and the
distance between the two angles, then getting an extra set of eyes to confirm. Ensuring
my angles are correct is important so utilizing a stable block of wood and wedge to create
a simulated angle and then adjusting till its as correct as I can get it would be prudent.

Reflection
Learning Trigonometry will help me in my future career as a n engineer, seeing as math
and science is the base building blocks for everything an engineer does, trigonometry will help in
developing anything within the physical or physically simulated aspects like 3D CAD drawings.
Mathematically mapping out designs, schematics, and ideas is just as important as the idea itself
for an engineer, everything must work and it also must work within the space it was designed for
and trigonometry can help with that, it can also help in physics, running simulations, and
measuring and understanding natural phenomena in correspondence with the current project.
Without trigonometry we wouldnt have a lot of major discoveries in astronomy, navigation,
space, music theory, financial market analysis, and many others, so in general trigonometry is
quite important a number of very important fields and studies. Overall trigonometry will help me
immeasurably as an engineer, without it, engineers wouldnt be able to develop a lot of
technology we have today, such as optics, aircraft, and acoustics. It is a scary thought to imagine
what the world would be like if we didnt learn math and science, all of the things we wouldnt
have, and how much harder our lives would be without math and math based sciences.