Week 7 – SOH CAH TOA Calculations
In the trigonomerty unit we learned SOH CAH TOA Which is basically how we will calculte most things with right angle triangles.
In the example above the question is asking for the height of both buildings and giving you these numbers : looking up to the taller building from the lower bulding is 24 (degrees) and the angle of depression is 56(degrees) and the buildings are 45m apart. The question asked for the height of both buildings and the way to find it is through SOH CAH TOA You have to find what parts are the triangles (both triangles) (Opposite, Adjacent, Hypotenuse) for the bottom triangle the top line is the adjacent the right line is the opposite and the hypotenuse is the left line. If we are trying to find the building heights we need the OPPOSITE side and to find that we need TOA which is Tan(56degrees) = (x / 45) then u times each side by 45 so 45 x Tan(56degrees) = x and u punch that in that equals 67 m. That is the height of the small tower and part of the taller tower.