High School Mathematics-Physics SMILE Meeting
1997-2006 Academic Years
Mathematics: Trigonometry
27 February 2001 Walter McDonald (CPS Substitute Teacher; VA
X-Ray Technician)
showed how to make an indirect measurement of the height H of a
building,
using trigonometry. He moved a distance D from the building,
and measured
the angle in the right triangle between the top and bottom, as shown:
|It follows from trigonometry that
| *
H | *
| *
| *
| *
| q *
|_____________*___
D
Walter McDonald (CPS Substitute and Veterans Administration
Diagnostic
Radiation Technologist)
showed us this graph of the trigonometric functions [sine, cosine,
tangent,
cotangent, secant and cosecant] which was obtained from the
Microsoft Encarta
Encyclopedia.

Walter made the following points: