How tall is the Tree? Trigonometry in ACTION!

TabletClass Math:


Math Notes:

[theosalt]

Great in theory as an intellectual excercise but impossible to measure the angle of elevation [25 degrees ] without some extra processes. As a student - intern I did this problem for a local body government who wondererd whether they needed to remove a fence when felling the tree. My calculation was that the tree would be short of the fence by 10 feet. The workers did not believe the science and removed the fence anyway. The tree when felled was as I had calculated and fell 10 feet short of the fence position.😂

[DavidEckard]

When I was a teen, dad needed to drop a tree at the end of the driveway. The question was, would it hit the house because the only clear direction too do it was down the driveway. Solution, stand away from 🎄 90⁰ from drop direction. Hold a pencil at arms length. Put to of pencil at top of tree. Put thumb and finger on pencil at base of 🎄. Rotate pencil 90⁰ till it's parallel to ground in prop the direction. Note where the top of 🎄 is. That is the 🎄 height and where it would drop to if you cut it down. Ours missed the house by ten feet.

[johngreen]

In Math 120 at UNLV(core course for non-math/science majors) they do some trig. It includes problems like this. So all college grads no matter what their major is, should be familiar with this problem and its solution. Math and Science majors take a course called Precalculus which goes into considerable detail on Trigonometry.

[kierangardner]

Thank you so much! I love your explination

[hsbrooks]

Tree on island in middle of a lake. Nothing is known about the island location or the tree. We cannot reach the island. We only have a transit and an accurate measuring tape or chain. Find distance to the tree from a given spot on shore and find height of tree above water level. Assume shore location is at water level. We had to do that for a surveying class in Civil Engineering course.

[Herlongian]

For fun the top of the tree can become the top of a lighthouse with an angle looking down at a boat to determine its distance from shore.

[johnplong]

Back when I first did this we did not have calculators so how did I solve this … ?? In the back of our Geometry Algebra 1, 2 and Trigonometry books Drum roll please ….There were trig tables

[georgeblount]

Used this technique in college to calculate the distance of water ski jumps for the competition water ski team .

[johndormer]

Tangent table not even discussed. So I presume people are not going to use the table if no trig or geometry, therefore no ability to derive an answer.

[hippiegypsygirl]

Now let’s do this with the suns rays to get the true distance of the sun. Not 93 million miles I will tell you that now

[johndormer]

Not everybody uses a scientific calculator

[damienreisner]

You don't see a whole lot of right angles in nature.

[WalterWedler]

Good explanation in the classroom but not very practical in the field. There are many easier methods that the tree professionals use.

[joe]

Too much BS info. All that was needed was tan of angle of sight and distance from tree.
Tan of 25X300 = answer. KISS....