SOME APPLICATION OF TRIGONOMETRY

HEIGHT AND DISTANCES

1) A ladder 5 m long, leaning against a vertical wall make an angle of 60  with the ground.
a) How high on the wall does the ladder reach?
b) How far is the foot of the ladder from the wall?
c) What angle does the ladder make with the wall?
Solution:
a) The height that the ladder reach is PQ
PQ
sin 60  
5
3 1.73  5
PQ  sin 60   5  5  4.325 m
2 2
b) The distance of the foot of the ladder from the wall is RQ
RQ
cos 60  
5
1
RQ  cos 60   5 =  5  2.5 m
2
c) The angle that the ladder makes with the wall is angle P
PQ 4.325
cos P    0.865
5 5
P  cos 1 (0.865)  30  (approx.)

2) A 1.5 m tall boy is standing at some distance from a 30 m tall building. The angle of elevation from his eyes
to the top of building increases from 30  to 60  as he walks towards the building. Find the distance he
walks towards the building.
Solution:
We are given the height of building (AF) = 30m.
The height of the boy (BD) = 1.5m
Therefore, AC = AF-BD = 30 – 1.5 =28.5m
We want to find distance he walked towards the building which is BG
InAGC ,
GC
We have,  cot 60 
AC
 GC  cot 60   AC
1 28.5 3
 GC   28.5 = 
3 3 3
 GC  9.5 3m
 SOME APPLICATION OF TRIGONOMETRY

InABC ,
BC
We have,  cot 30 
AC
 BC  cot 30   AC
 BC  3  28.5
 BC  28.5 3m

BG = BC – GC
= 28.5 3  9.5 3
= 19 3m
Therefore, he walks 19 3m towards the tower.

3) The angle of elevation of the top of a tower from two points distant p and q from the base and in the same
straight line with it are complementary. Prove that the height of tower is pq
Solution:
Let CD be the tower of height h.
Let AC be the base of the tower.
Let A and B be two points on the same line through the base such that CA = p, and CB = q.
Because the angles at A and B are complementary,
So let DAC  
And therefore, DBC  90   
InACD ,
CD h
tan    …………….(1)
AC p
InBCD ,
CD h h
tan(90    )   or cot   ………………(2)
CB q q
Multiplying (1) and (2) we have,
h h
tan  cot   
q p
1 h2
 tan  . 
tan  pq
h2
 1
pq
 SOME APPLICATION OF TRIGONOMETRY

 h 2  pq
h pq

4) A Jet airway is flying horizontally at a height of 5000 m. above the ground is observed at an elevation of 60  ,
And after 30 seconds, the elevation is observed to be 30  . Find the speed of the jet airway in km/hr.
Solution:
Initially the jet airway is at X and after 30 seconds its position is at Z.
Therefore, XZ is the distance covered in 30 seconds.
Also XPY  60  ,
ZPQ  30 
XY = ZQ = 5000m
In right XYP
PY 5000
 cot 60   PY  ………..(1)
XY 3
In right ZQP
PQ
 cot 30   PQ  5000 3 …………….(2)
ZQ
From (1) and (2) we get,
5000  1 
YQ = PQ – PY = 5000 3  = 5000 3  
3  3
 2  5000  2  3 5000  2  1.732 17320
YQ = 5000  =   m
 3 3 3 3
17320
Therefore, distance covered in 30 sec is m
3
17320 17320
Therefore, Speed = m/s=  60  60km/ hr
3  30 3  30  1000
Therefore Speed = 692.8km/ hr
Therefore speed of jet airway is 692.8km/hr.
 SOME APPLICATION OF TRIGONOMETRY

5) If the distance of a person from a tower is 100m and the angle subtends by the top of tower with the ground is 30 
What is the height of the tower in metres?

Solution:
AB = distance of the man from the tower = 100m
BC = height of the tower= h
The trigonometric function that uses AB and BC is tan A, where A = 30 
BC h
So, tan 30   
AB 100
1 100
 h  100   57.74m
3 1.732
Therefore, height of the tower is 57.74m

6) Two pillars of equal height are on either side of a road, which is 60 m wide. The angle of elevation of the top
of the pillars are 60  and 30  at a appoint on the road between the pillars. Find the position of the point between
the pillars. Also find the height of each pillar.
Solution:
Let PQ and SR be two pillars of equal height ‘h’ m
Let ‘T’ be a point on the road such that
QT = ‘x’meter.
TR = (60 –x) metre.
STR  30 
In triangle PQT,
 SOME APPLICATION OF TRIGONOMETRY

PQ
 tan 60 
QT
h
  3
x
 h  3x …………….(1)

In right triangle STR

SR
 tan 30 
RT
h 1
 
60  x 3
60  x
h …………(2)
3
Plug in the value of h from equation (1), we get
60  x
3x 
3
3 x  60  x
4 x  60
x  15
Plug in the value of x in equation (1)
h  1.73  15  25.95m
Therefore, height of each pillar = 25.95 m ; position of the point from a pillar making an angle of 60  is 15m.
 SOME APPLICATION OF TRIGONOMETRY

7) An observer 5ft tall is standing 20 feet away from a tree, and he measure the angle of elevation to be 38  . How tall
is the tree?

Solution:
According to figure we have to find value of T
we have to add 5 feet to this value to find the height of triangle
So, we should use tangent value.
opposite T
tan 38   
adjacent 20
 T  20 tan(38 )  15.63
Therefore height of tree = 16.63 + 5 = 20.63ft
Therefore, Height of tree = 20.63ft (approx)
 SOME APPLICATION OF TRIGONOMETRY

8) An observer 3 m tall is 27 m away from a chimney. The angle of elevation of the top of the chimney from her
eyes is 45  . What is the height of the chimney?

Solution
Here, PQ is the chimney; RS is the observer and PRT is the angle of elevation.
In Right triangle PRT
We have,
PQ = PT + QT = PT + 3
And, RT = SQ = 27m= distance between the observer & chimney.

To determine, PT
We choose a trigonometric ratio, which involves both PT and RT.
Let us choose the tangent of the angle of elevation.
PT
Now, tan 45  
RT
PT
 1
27
 PT = 27m
So, the height of the chimney (PQ) = (27 + 3) =30m.
 SOME APPLICATION OF TRIGONOMETRY

9) From a point on a bridge across a river, the angles of depression of the banks on opposite sides of the river are
30  and 45  respectively, if the bridge is at a height of 7m from the banks, find out the width of the river.

Solution: P and Q represent points on the bank on opposite sides of the river, so that PQ is the width of river.

R is a point on the bridge at a height of 7m.

RS = 7m

We have to determine width of the river, which is the length of the side PQ of PRQ

Now, PQ = PS + SQ

In right PRQ

R  30 

RS
tan 30  
So, SP

1 6

 3 SP

 SP = 6 3 m
 SOME APPLICATION OF TRIGONOMETRY

Also, In right

Q  45  ………………….(by

So, QS = SR = 6m

Now, PQ = PS + SQ = √ = √ m

Therefore, the width of the river is 6(1  3 ) m

10) A tower stands vertically on the ground. From a point on the ground, which is 20 m away from the foot
of the tower, the angle of elevation of the top of the tower to be 60  . Find the height of the tower.

Solution:
Here XZ represents the tower,
XY is the distance of the point from the tower
ZXY is the angle of elevation.
We need to determine the height of the tower (i.e.YZ)
Now, XYZ is right triangle
We choose the trigonometric ratio, which involves (XY, YZ)
ZY
Now, tan 60  
YX
ZY
 3
20
 ZY  20 3
Hence, the height of tower is 20 3 m