Tools and Considerations
While doing this project we used three main tools to aid our measurements including; a trundle wheel, a clinometer, and a meter stick. As we do not have access to precision measurement instruments we had to do the best with what we had trying to take the most precise measurements we could. There are some aspects, however, that we must take into consideration before measuring. The slant of the ground made it difficult to keep the trundle wheel rolling perfectly on the ground at all times, possibly making our measurements slightly differ from reality. When looking through the clinometer we must decide whether we consider the cap at the top of the flagpole part of the structure and height of the pole or if we look lower towards where the pole meats the capper, making our angle different from another group. That group that we compared with may or may not have also accounted for the length of the flags base which may make our answers differ. Since we were outside, our measurement using the meter stick to see how tall Megan was until her eye may have also been inexact however, we tried our best with the materials and options we had available.
Final Thoughts
Overall I believe this lab was a success! I had a great time measuring and learning how to use the different tools that we used to measure and calculate the angle. I appreciated being outdoors and it really put into perspective how our classroom learning of trigonometry could be applied outside the classroom.
Applications of Trigonometry
Trigonometry is useful in an assortment of ways and one of it’s uses involves calculating unknown angles or side lengths of a right angle triangle. When Pythagoras fails you, look no further than Trigonometry, with its three stars, Cosine, Sine, and Tangent. Using the individual ratios of whatever function the question or situation requires you can use the information available (as long as you have at least one side length and a POR (point of reference) angle other than the 90 degrees) to calculate the missing lengths and angles. The diagram on the displays one application of Trigonometry in which case we did not know the length of the flag pole, the opposite length, if the flagpole and ground formed a 90 degree right angle triangle. Once I we had our measurements we were able to use Tangent, as we had the adjacent sides measurement, the POR angle to Tangent to receive our ratio and the x to represent the length we needed to find.
Wow! This is some amazing design. *ahem* Divi Builder *ahem*