A Students Prayer

St. Thomas Aquinas

Creator of all things, true source of light and wisdom, origin of all being, graciously let a ray of your light penetrate the darkness of my understanding. Take from me the double darkness in which I have been born, an obscurity of sin and ignorance. Give me a keen understanding, a retentive memory, and the ability to grasp things correctly and fundamentally. Grant me the talent of being exact in my explanations and the ability to express myself
with thoroughness and charm. Point out the beginning, direct the progress, and help in the completion. I ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Solutions of Right Triangles

Formulas available for Use:
1. 2. Theorem of Pythagoras Six Trigonometric Ratios or Functions

Watch out pointers or reminders

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. There must be, at least, 3 known quantities; One of the known quantities must be a measure of length; Check for consistency of units; When checking your answers, use the property A + B = 90; Do not use 90 - A = B or 90 - B = A for checking purposes; and Remember to use our agreed degrees of accuracy

For each set of data, solve for the unknown quantities of the right triangle shown below.
B

C 1. a = 25.40 cm and c = 50.80 cm 2. b = 98.23 cm and a = 125.00 cm 3. c = 125.20 cm and b = 98.65 cm 4. B = 25.0000 and b = 38.30 cm 5. A = 35.0000 and a = 48.56 cm 6. A = 45.0000 and b = 16.65 cm 7. A = 55.0000 and c = 215.00 cm 8. B = 65.0000 and a = 521.00 cm 9. B = 75.0000 and b = 251.00 cm 10. B = 85.0000 and c = 512.00 cm

Answers to the exercise problems

a b c A B C
90.0000 90.0000 90.0000 90.0000 90.0000 90.0000 90.0000 90.0000 90.0000 90.0000

A+B
89.9908 89.9988 89.9987 90.0020 90.0007 89.9919 90.0003 90.0000 89.9968 89.9996

ROE
-0.01% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% -0.01% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%

25.40 43.99 50.80 30.0000 59.9908 125.00 98.23 158.98 51.8376 38.1612 77.09 98.65 125.20 38.0053 51.9934 82.14 38.30 90.63 65.0020 25.0000 48.56 69.35 84.66 35.0000 55.0007 16.65 16.65 23.55 45.0000 44.9919 176.12 123.32 215.00 55.0000 35.0003 521.00 1,117.29 1,232.79 25.0000 65.0000 67.24 251.00 259.85 14.9968 75.0000 44.62 510.05 512.00 4.9996 85.0000

Applications Angle of Elevation, Angle of Depression, Bearings

Angle of elevation and the angle of depression are vertical angle applications using right triangle solutions.

On the horizontal plane, bearing problems are typical applications.

Angle of Elevation
The vertical angle subtended by a vertical object from an exterior vertex or viewpoint wherein the line of sight is above the horizon.

Line of sight

Angle of Elevation Vertex or viewpoint Horizon Object

Example: A man was standing at a street corner 120.00 meters from the face of a building. He observed that the top of the building makes an angle of 35 with the horizon. How high was the building assuming that the base of the building and the viewpoint are level to each other?

Angle of Depression
The vertical angle subtended by a vertical object from an exterior vertex or viewpoint wherein the line of sight is below the horizon.

Vertex or viewpoint

Horizon Angle of Depression

Line of sight

Object

Example: A man was standing at topmost ledge of a hotel building that was 40.00 meters high. He observed that a fountain in the plaza made an angle of depression of 65. How far was the fountain from the ledge?

Bearings
The direction of any horizontal line with respect to the y-axis may be defined by means of bearings, azimuths, deflection angles, angles to the right, or interior angles.

The bearing of a line is indicated by the quadrant in which the line falls and the acute angle which the line makes with either the positive or negative y-axis.
Bearings are said to be observed bearings when taken from the field or calculated bearings when obtained by computation.
(Surveying: Davis, Foote and Kelly)

N Bearing angle

The bearing of a line is indicated by the quadrant in which the line falls and the acute angle which the line makes with either the positive or negative y-axis.

Examples: 1. N 3527 E 2. N 4235 W 3. S 1828 W 4. S 7212 E

S PROBLEM: A ship travels N2820E for 86 km after which it changes direction to N6140W for 124 km. How far is the ship from its starting point?

Exercises: Angle of Elevation and Angle of Depression

1. Cadet Santiago was standing 150 meters from the base of a flagpole. What is the height of the flagpole if the angle of elevation is 40? 2. The distance between the bases of two skyscrapers was measured to be 37.5 meters. What is the height of one skyscraper if the angle of elevation is 6530? 3. Shaquille ONeal was meditating one sunny day. He was standing on a basketball court and he found that at about 9:30 the shadow that he cast on the hard court was 1.82 meters long. If his height is 2.24 meters, what was the angle of depression of his shadow at that time? 4. Godofredo and his survey party reached the apex of Hill 42 and observed that the angle of depression of a sea craft on the shore made was 371630. If Hill 42, according to the topographic map is 120 meters above mean sea level, what was the horizontal distance between the sea craft and the apex of the hill?

Exercises: Bearings
1. An observer in a ship sailing on a course of N5030E observed a lighthouse with bearing N2030E. After traveling 15 km on its course, the observer took another reading and found that the lighthouse now has a bearing of N3930W. How far was the ship at each time of the two readings? 2. From an airport, an airplane and a helicopter travel to two different islands. The plane travels 235 km at a bearing of N6550E. The helicopter travels S2410E for 138 km. How far apart are the two islands? 3. A yacht travels N1330W from the marina for 126 km. At that point, It travels S7630W for 178 km. What is its latest position, i.e. distance and bearing, from the marina?