Flag Pole Lab Math 10 2019
Data and calculations
For this assignment, we had to measure the height of a flag pole using trigonometry. To do this you couldn’t just measure the height because it was too tall to use a measuring tape and normally measure it. So to do this we had to use trigonometry and make right-angle triangles and get different measurements to find the height of the flag pole. So to make this calculation we had to first find the measurement of the ground to my eyes. Our measurement for this was 155cm. So then once we had that calculation we measured the length from the flagpole to where I was standing and it was exactly 600cm (6 meters).Then after that measurement, I looked through the clinometer to find the level of elevation from my eye level to the very top of the flag pole. This measurement was 56 degrees. This is what a drawing with these measurements would look like:
Then we got back to the class and proceeded to use trigonometry to find the height of the flagpole.
This is the equation I used to find the height of the flagpole:
So for this assignment, Ara and I came up with the conclusion that the flagpole is 10.44 meters (or 1044 centimeters) in height.
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Reflection
There were a lot of factors in this lab to make our answer inaccurate but still close to the real height. First off, the ground wasn’t level at all so we had to find the best spot where we thought it was the most level and use that spot for our measurement. This messes it up because it has to be perfectly level to be a right-angle triangle and so because the ground isn’t level it makes it so the right angle triangle is slightly off which messes up your measurements and calculations. Because if you are on a flat surface then it works, but if you are lower then the flat surface then you are looking higher up and the angle is different then what it is supposed to be. The next factor is that the equipment we were using was homemade equipment so it was never going to be super accurate. It was made out of paper and some screws and so you couldn’t get a completely accurate measurement out of it. With these 2 factors in mind, it is realistic that we are slightly off the actual answer with our answer.
After speaking with several groups, the answers varied from 8 meters to 12 meters. This shows how inaccurate the measuring can be and that we did an ok job because our final answer was near the middle with 10.44 meters. Xavier and Jayda’s group got 9.24 as their answer except they said it is probably off because they believe they didn’t accurately measure the distance between them and the flagpole.
Trigonometry is great because it can help you measure parts of a right-angle triangle with very little measurements. You have to make sure that it is a right angle triangle for it to work and all you need to know is an angle that isn’t the 90-degree angle and then the measurement of 1 side and you can find the measurements and angles of all the other sides. You can find the other angles by simply subtraction 2 angles from 180 to get the last angle. And then to find the length of the sides, you can use the angles and the side length to find the other side lengths by using the trig ratios (sine, cosine, tangent). An example of this is what we just did where we had the angle which was 56 degrees and we had 1 length which was 600cm and we could figure out another length using the trig ratio tangent.