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Math Questions

These documents contain multiple word problems involving trigonometric concepts like angles of elevation, depression, and using trig functions like tangent and sine to solve for unknown lengths and heights. The problems provide all the necessary information in logical steps and use diagrams when helpful to depict the concepts visually.

Uploaded by

Lexilyn Delos Lado
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
322 views

Math Questions

These documents contain multiple word problems involving trigonometric concepts like angles of elevation, depression, and using trig functions like tangent and sine to solve for unknown lengths and heights. The problems provide all the necessary information in logical steps and use diagrams when helpful to depict the concepts visually.

Uploaded by

Lexilyn Delos Lado
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1.

From the top of a fire tower, a forest ranger sees his


partner on the ground at an angle of depression of 40º.
If the tower is 45 feet in height, how far is the partner from the base of the
tower, to the nearest tenth of a
foot?

2. A ladder leans against a


brick wall. The foot of the
ladder is 6 feet from the wall.
The ladder reaches a height of 15 feet on the wall. Find to the nearest degree,
the angle the ladder makes with the wall.
3. A radio station tower was built in two sections. From a point 87 feet from
the base of the tower, the angle of elevation of the top of the first section is
25º, and the angle of elevation of the top of the second section is 40º. To
the nearest foot, what is the height of the top section of the tower?

• The needed height, x, of the second (top) section of the tower will be the
difference between the ENTIRE height, b, and the height of the first (bottom)
section, a. You will need to subtract.
• In both triangles, the solution deals with "opposite" and "adjacent" making it
a tangent problem.
• Larger triangle with

height b:
• Smaller triangle with

height a:

• Difference (b - a): 73.00166791 - 40.56876626 = 32.43290165 ≈ 32 feet

4. If the side of the a handkerchief is 3 feet, then find the acute angle of
elevation.

tan A = BCAB

tan A = 33
[Since ABCD is a square, AB = BC = 3.]

tan A = 1
[Simplify.]
From the tan table, tan 45° = 1.

5. A kite is flying with the string inclined at 60o to the


horizon. What is the height of the kite above the
ground, when the string is 30 m long?

Sin 60o = h / 30

h = 30 x Sin 60o
[Multiply both sides with 30.]

h = 30 x 0.866
[Use calculator or table to find the value of Sin 60o.]

h = 25.98
[Simplify.]

The height of the kite above the ground = 25.98 m.


6. A nursery plants a new tree and attaches a guy wire to help support
the tree while its roots take hold. An eight foot wire is attached to the
tree and to a stake in the ground. From the stake in the ground the
angle of elevation of the connection with the tree is 42º. Find to
the nearest tenth of a foot, the height of the connection point on the
tree.
• The "angle of elevation" is from the ground up.
• It is assumed that the tree is vertical, making it perpendicular with
the ground.
• This problem deals with "opposite" and "hypotenuse" making it a
sine problem.

•
7. A balloon flew with the string inclined at 60o to the horizon. What is the height of the ballooon above the
ground, when the string is 30 m long?

h = 30 x Sin 60o

[Multiply both sides with 30.]

h = 30 x 0.866

[Use calculator or table to find the value of Sin 60o.]

h = 25.98

[Simplify.]

The height of the balloon above the ground = 25.98 m.

8. Two friends are having a trig play day and


decide to try to estimate the height of a tree. They
position themselves 25 feet apart on the same side
of and in a straight line with a big oak. Pressing
their faces to the ground so their line of sight is
the ground, they look up at the top of the tree and
estimate their angles of elevation to the top of the
tree as 44° and 65°. Now take this information and
help them find the height of the tree.

Note there are two right triangles. From each we can set up a

tangent function, tan65° = h/x and tan44° = h/(x+25). Since we have two
equations in two unknowns, we must solve a system.
Solving the first equation for h we get,

h = x tan65° plugging that into the second equation gives,

tan44° = x tan65° / (x+25)

from here we do a bunch of algebra,

(x + 25) tan44° = x tan65°

x tan44° + 25 tan44° = x tan65°

25 tan44° = x tan65° - x tan44°

25 tan44° = x(tan65° - tan44°)

25 tan44° / (tan65° - tan44°) = x

But, we want h! So, plugging this back in for h above,

h = [25 tan44° / (tan65° - tan44°)] tan65°

plugging all this into a calculator and rounding to two sig digits gives,

finally, h = 44 feet

9-10
Depression
A man at the top of a light house sights a boat at the sea. The angle of depression formed by his line of
sight is 38∘38∘. If the height of the light house is 4040 feet then find out how far into the sea the boat is
from the base of the light house.

Solution:

Let the distance from the base of the light house to the boat be xx. Then the triangle would look like this:

We are talking of the triangle BCABCA that is right angled at CC. Since the angle of depression is given
to us is 3838 degrees, the complementary angle CBACBA would be 90−3890−38 = 52∘52∘. We can use
the triangle BCABCA to find the value of xx. Alternatively, we can also use the triangle BDABDA.
Since ACBDACBD forms a rectangle, the triangles BCABCA and ADBADB are congruent triangles. We
can use either of these triangles to find the distance xx. From the formula of angle of depression we know
that:

tanθtanθ = hxhx

= tan38∘tan38∘ = 40x40x

0.7810.781 = 40x40x

0.781x0.781x = 4040

xx = 400.781400.781

xx = 51.2251.22 feet

Thus the boat is 51.2251.22 feet into the sea from the base of the light house.

A man standing on a cliff sees two cars approaching him on a road. The angle of depression to the two
cars from the man’s line of sight are 2525 degrees and 4040 degrees respectively. If the height of the
cliff is 8787 feet, then find the distance between the two cars.

Solution:

First let us make a picture of the situation described in the situation.


his time we shall first find the angle of elevation from the angle of depression given to us. We are given
the angles of depression of the two cars from the top of the cliff. The corresponding angles of elevation
from the cars to the cliff top would be same, 2525 degrees for the blue car and 4040 degrees for the red
car.

Now, in the triangle OABOAB, the angle at BB is 4040 degrees, the side opposite to that angle
is 8787 feet and the side adjacent to that angle is yy. Thus we have:

tan(40)tan(40) = 87y87y

yy = 87tan⁡(40)87tan╡(40)

yy = 103.68 ft103.68 ft

Now for the triangle OACOAC the angle at CC is 2525 degrees. The opposite side is still 8787 feet and
the adjacent side is x+yx+y. Thus we have:

tan(25)tan(25) = 87(x+y)87(x+y)

We know the value of yy now. So let us plug that into the above equation.

tan(25)tan(25)= 87(x+103.68)87(x+103.68)

0.466(x+103.68)0.466(x+103.68) = 8787

x+103.68x+103.68 = 870.466870.466

x+103.68x+103.68 = 186.57186.57

xx = 186.57−103.68186.57−103.68

xx = 82.89 ft82.89 ft

Thus the distance between the cars is 82.89 ft


A forest ranger standing at the top of a fire tower sights a small fire near the tower at about 5353 feet from
the base of the tower. If the height of the tower is 4545 feet, at what angle should he shoot the water jet
so that it hits the fire, directly. Assume that the water jet travels in a perfect straight line.

Solution:

First let us make a picture of the situation described in the problem. It would look something like this:

The height of the tower OBOB is same as the ACAC. The distance of the fire from the base of the
tower OAOA is same as BCBC. Thus we can use the triangle ABCABC to find the angle of
depression θθ.

tanθtanθ = hxhx

Substituting the values of hh and xx given in the question we have:

tanθtanθ = 45534553

Simplifying that we have:

tanθtanθ = 0.8490.849

To find the value of θθ we take inverse tangent function on both the sides. Thus we have:

tan−1tan−1 (tanθtanθ) = tan−1(0.849)tan−1(0.849)

θθ = 40.33∘40.33∘

Thus the angle of the water jet should be approximately 40.33∘


The upper part of a pole broken over by wind makes an angle 30 o with the ground and touches the ground
at a distance 26 feet. What is the height of the pole?

sin 30o = h / x= 15.00 / x


[Substitute.]

0.5 = 15.00 / x
[Use calculator or table to find the value of sin 30o.]

x = 15.00 / 0.5 = 30
[Multiply both sides with x / 0.5.]

The height of the pole = h + x = 15.00 + 30 = 45


[Substitute and add.]

The height of the pole = 45 feet.

A ladder with its foot on a horizontal flat surface


rests against a wall. It makes an angle of 30°
with the horizontal. The foot of the ladder is 41 ft
from the base of the wall. Find the height of the
point where the ladder touches the wall.
The distance from the foot of the ladder to the
foot of the wall = 41 ft [Given.] Let h be the
height of the point A at which the ladder touches
the wall. From right triangle ABC, tan 30° =
h/41 h = 41 tan 30° = 24 ft. (approx.)
[Substitute tan 30° and simplify.] The ladder touches the wall at a height of 24 ft.

From the top of a building of height hh meters in a street, the angles of elevation and
depression of the top and the foot of another building on the opposite side of the
street are θ degrees and ϕ degrees respectively. Find the height of the opposite
building. [Given h = 70, φ = 35, and θ = 50.]
Let AB represent the first building and CD represent the opposite building....... AB = 70 meters (given)

In right triangle CBA, tan 35^o = AB / BC

This implies 0.700 = 70/BC....... [Substitute the value of tan 35° and simplify.

This implies BC = 100 meters (approx)........ In right triangle BCD, tan 50^o = DE / AD........ DC = 119.10 or
119........ [Substitute the value of tan 50^o and simplify.

Therefore, the height of the opposite building is 119 meters.

A building is of unknown height. At a distance of 100 feet away from the building, an
observer notices that the angle of elevation to the top of the building is 41º and that
the angle of elevation to a poster on the side of the building is 21º. How far is the poster
from the roof of the building?
John wants to measure the height of a tree. He
walks exactly 100 feet from the base of the tree
and looks up. The angle from the ground to the
top of the tree is 33º. This particular tree grows at
an angle of 83º with respect to the ground rather
than vertically (90º). How tall is the tree?

From the top of a house, 45 m high, the angle of elevation of a tower is found to be
equal to the angle of depression of the foot of the tower. Find the height of the tower.

AB / x = 45 / x
[Substitute the values of BC and BE.]

AB = 45
[Multiply both sides with x.]

The height of the tower = AB + BC = 45 + 45


[Substitute.]

= 90
[Add.]

The height of the tower = 90 m.

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