1 Shelia O’Connor, Josh Headley, Carlton Ivy, Lauren Parsons How tall it is? Pre-AP Geometry 1 st period 8 March 2011

2 Shelia O’Connor- 60 ° Solve with special right triangles - Long leg = short leg*√3 - Short leg ≈ 5 ft. - Long leg = 5√3 - Height = 5√ Solve with Trigonometry - tan(60) = x/5 - X = tan(60)*5 - X ≈ Height = Height ≈ º 30º ≈ 5.08 ft. 90º ≈5 ft. X

3 Josh Headley-20 ° Solve with Trigonometry - tan(20)=x/36 - X=tan(20)36 - X= Height ≈18.43 Solve with special Right Triangle -can’t use special right triangle. 20º 70º 90º x ≈5.33 ≈36ft.

4 Solve with Special Right Triangles - l.leg=sh.leg√3 - 20=sh.leg√3 - 20/√3=sh.leg - 20√3/3=sh.leg - sh.leg=20√3/ Height = 20√3/ Solve with Trigonometry - tan(30)=x/20 - x=tan(30)20 - x= Height≈16.8 Carlton Ivy-30 ° 60º 30º 90º ≈20 ft. ≈5.25 ft x

5 Lauren Parsons-45 ° 45 ° Solve with special right triangles -Leg = leg -Leg 1 ≈ 12 ft. -Leg 2=height1 -Height2 ≈ 5.17 ft. -Total height= height1+height2 -Total height ≈17.17 ft. Solve with Trigonometry -tan(45)= x/12 -X = tan(45)*12 -X = 12 -Height = Total Height ≈17.17 ft. 45 ° 90 ° x ≈12 ft. ≈5.17

Conclusion Average Height ≈16.26 ft. In order to determine the height of the lamp post, we applied special right triangles and trigonometry. First we used clinometers to measure an angle and to form a triangle. We formed 4 triangles: 30º, 60º, 45º, and 20º. Next, we measured the height to our eyes and the distance to the pole. Then we used trigonometry or special right triangles to determine the portion of our triangle that made up the height of the pole. Lastly we added our height to determine the total height of the pole. Lesson learned: This process is not entirely accurate because each triangle resulted in a different height; however, this process is a good way to approximate the height of an object which is too tall to measure. 6