Sine, Cosine, Tangent Applications

The Sine, Cosine and Tangent functions are often applied to real world scenarios.

Example 1

What is the height of the tree below?

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$ tan(16) = \frac \\ tan(16) = \frac \\ \red x = \frac \\ \red x = 48.8 $

problem 1

At 57" from the base of a building you need to look up at 55° to see the top of a building. What is the height of the building?

building problem

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$ tan(55) = \frac \\ tan(55)= \frac < 57>\\ \red x = 57 \cdot tan(55) \\ \red x = 81.4 $

Problem 2

The angle of elevation from a point 43 feet from the base of a tree on level ground to the top of the tree is 30°. What is the height of the tree? Round your answer to the nearest tenth.

First, you should draw and label a picture of this word problem.