Algebra II

Topic: Trigonometry

By: Caidan, Camryn M., and Mikayla

Definitions:
1.

Trigonometry is the study of the relationship between angles, lengths, and

triangles. This is commonly used when attempting to find an unknown height, angle, or
length.
2. Trigonometry is a mathematical process that is often used in geometry to measure
angles and sides of triangles to determine unknown angle () measurements and the
adjacent side, opposite side, and hypotenuse. (Joyce)
3. The branch of mathematics that deals with the relations between the sides and
angles of plane or spherical triangles, and the calculations based on them.
Skills needed:
When solving trigonometry there are a few basic skills you will need to know complete
any trig problem. Knowing that all angles of a triangle add up to 180, Pythagorean Theorem and
other techniques for right triangles, the unit circle, sine, cosine, tangent, and degrees of a circle
are just a few skills needed for trigonometry. One simple thing to know is that a missing angle
will often be shown as , theta, and that names of the sides differ depending where that angle is
in the triangle. The side that doesnt touch the angle is known as opposite and the sides that do
create the angle are known as the adjacent and hypotenuse. The difference between the two is
that the hypotenuse is the longest side and does not make up the 90. Pythagorean Theorem is a
pretty basic equation that will allow you to find the side lengths of any right triangle. A right
triangle is a triangle that has an angle that is 90. The two sides that make up the 90 angle are
sides A and B and the side the side that does create this angle is side C, the hypotenuse.

A2+B2=C2 is the equation you need to know for Pythagorean theorem. By plugging any two of
the sides you do know into this equation you will be able to find the missing side. There are two
special triangles that still follow this formula, but have easy general numbers to follow. For a
right triangle whose two other angles are 45 you know that both sides A and B will be the same
and the hypotenuse will be different. This ratio is 1-1-2. A 30-60-90 triangle is the other kind of
triangle that has a known ratio that is pretty easy to remember. The ratio is 1-3-2, but this one is
a little more complicated to know what side goes where. The side 1 will always be the opposite
side from the 30 angle. Knowing Sine, Cosine, and Tangent and all of their reciprocals,
cosecant, secant, and cotangent and their inverses can help find missing angles by simply
plugging in the needed sides. Using the unit circle is another option to find unknown pieces of
you triangle and can help you check to make sure you got the right answer.
Professions:
Fields that use trigonometry or trigonometric functions include astronomy (especially for
locating apparent positions of celestial objects, in which spherical trigonometry is essential) and
hence navigation (on the oceans, in aircraft, and in space), music theory, audio synthesis,
acoustics, optics, electronics, probability theory, statistics, biology, medical imaging (CAT scans
and ultrasound), pharmacy, chemistry, number theory (and hence cryptology), seismology,
meteorology, oceanography, many physical sciences, land surveying and geodesy,architecture,
image compression, phonetics, economics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, civil
engineering, computer graphics, cartography, crystallography, and game development.
Architects: They use trigonometry to construct and design different structures and
buildings.
Astronomy/Navigation: The distance to the shore using the sun, finding height of
waves, finding distances using the stars.

 Musical Theory: The vibrations of a violin have the same shape as a sine function.

Examples From Professions:

Example from a Architect
Though trigonometry is used in so many different professions, architecture would be
unsuccessful without basic trigonometry. Architects create and design houses and buildings that
people work, live, and go to everyday. The blueprints need to be as exact as possible or those
buildings will collapse or wont even be buildable. For example when an architect is trying to
find the length of a roof of a shed they use trigonometry. They know that one side of their
triangle is half of the length of the whole house which is 24 feet and that the roof will raise 5
feet. By using Pythagorean Theorem they can do 122+52 to find their hypotenuse or roof length
which would be 13 feet long. They could also find the angle of slope that the roof is to see if it
steep enough. To do this for the last example they would theta in either acute angle. If they put it
in the angle that is created by sides 13 and 12 and used tangent to find theta the equation would

look like this: sin(

5
)= .
13

Example for Home Designer

In construction there is a lot of trigonometry involved to figure out how to stabilize
and sustain a functional house. To capture the true beauty of how math is used daily
and outside of school, I interviewed Preston Williams a long time home designer and
builder. I asked him if his life was made easier due to math, Yes, when building a house
you need to calculate design vs. function, so the inside represents the outside and they
are in harmony. I asked him if he uses math at home on a daily basis, I always use
math, even when cutting a log. To Preston math is a very valuable and practical use for
his everyday life. In another question I had asked him if he enjoys using math, Yes, I

love to figure out the pitches and angles on designing homes and load bearing
structures. Trigonometry plays a vital role in every house, even the one you live in.
Architects use Trigonometry in several ways. Architects use trigonometry to
calculate structural load. Structural load is the total amount of weight a building can hold
from wall to wall without collapsing or deformation over time. This is where trigonometry
is used to calculate the structural load by calculating the right size a wall should be,
where it is not too big or too small. An architect's failure to calculate the right
measurements using to trigonometry can lead to severe results.
They use trigonometry in many ways just to keep a house up, as well as the way
natural lighting comes through windows and entrance, Architects use trigonometry to
calculate roof slopes. Architects are required to show work for every single measure of a
building's roof because a roofs only support to stay off the ground are the walls.
Trigonometry is used to calculate the angle a roof should be laying sideways around a
building, including sun shading and light angles
History:
Traces of trigonometry can be dated back to 2nd millennium BC. The ancient egyptians are one
of the earliest known beings to use trig. Unfortunately, a pre-hellenic sociality the early egyptians
and babylonians could only determine the sides of triangles. This is because at the time the
measurement of angles had not been established yet. However, Babylonian astronomers did keep
precise and detailed records of the motion of planets, rising/setting of stars, and solar/lunar
eclipses (The History Of Trigonometry). To do so there must have been a basic understanding of
how to find angular distances that were measured on a celestial sphere. Ancient babylonians
could have possibly had a table of secants. Unfortunately, it is not known if that table was of
Pythagorean Triples or a Trigonometric Table. Around the 2nd millenium, egyptian were
constructing pyramids and The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus was written by Ahmes. This
document contains this specific problem If a pyramid is 250 cubits high and the side of its base
360 cubits long, what is its seked,taken from History of Trigonometry. This suggests that the
egyptians were indeed using early forms of trigonometry. The solution Ahmes suggested for the

problem at hand was cotangent of the angle to the base of the pyramid and its face, also taken
from History of Trigonometry.
In Indian astronomy during the Gupta period, an ancient reign of an Indian empire, trigonometry
was also used. Aryabhata, an indian mathematician-astronomer, said for a triangle, the result of
a perpendicular with the half-side is the area. Aryabhata referred to sine as ardha-jya. Translated
to english this means half-chord. A chord is the line that subtends the arc to a given circle.
paraphrased from History of Trigonometry. The use of chords can be found in Ancient Greek
and Hellenistic mathematics. While there is no mention of the use of trig. in Euclid and
Archimedes works, geometric theorems are homologous to unequivocal trigonomic
functions/formulas. according to History of Trigonometry, The first trigonometric table was
apparently compiled by Hipparchus of Nicaea (180 125 BCE). Hipparchus of Nicaea is most
commonly known for his accidental discovery of precession of the equinoxes but is also
considered as the father of trigonometry. Much later, Claudius Ptolemy expanded Hipparchuss
table. Ptolemys theorem states that the sum of the products of the opposite sides of a cyclic
quadrilateral is equal to the product of the diagonals. According toHistory of trigonometry,
whether these tables were derived from Hipparchus' work cannot be determined. Neither the
tables of Hipparchus nor those of Ptolemy have survived to the present day, although
descriptions by other ancient authors leave little doubt that they once existed.
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