Day: April 3, 2016

Conveniently i have a staircase in the backyard in the shape of a right triangle. I measured from the ground to the top of the porch where the stairs meet the porch.

The angle of depression ( i measured from the ground up to the opposing corner) is 36 degrees.   So where the standing pole meets the top of the staircase is where 36 degrees is.

From the bottom of the staircase to the bottom of the standing pole it is 11 ft.

So from the angle, 11 ft is the opposite side, the standing pole is the adjacent side and the staircase is the hypotenuse.

My work being:

TAN 36 degrees= 0.7265

11ft/0.7265=15.14

So the standing pole to be 15.14 ft tall.

I dont think this is right though since normally the height is smaller than the length.

(sorry the picture didn’t download clearly)

These are triangles 1,2 &3. All are missing the angle and each triangle uses one of the three different trig ratios.

Triangle A: Uses the sin ratio, as only the opposite and hypotenuse are labeled with a measurement.

Triangle B:  Uses the tangent ratio, as only the opposite and adjacent sides are measured.

Triangle C: Uses the cosine ratio, as only the hypotenuse and adjacent are labeled.

All the triangles sides are labeled in according to the placement of the missing angle.