Angles of Elevation and Depression

The angle of elevation of an object as seen by an observer is the angle between the horizontal and the line from the object to the observer's eye
(the line of sight).

If the object is below the level of the observer, then the angle between the horizontal and the observer's line of sight is called the angle of
depression.

Example 21
From the top of a vertical cliff 40 m high, the angle of depression of an object that is level with the base of the cliff is 34. How far is the object
from the base of the cliff?

Solution:
Let x m be the distance of the object from the base of the cliff.

Definition of Angle of Depression

Imagine that you just finished wiping the kitchen floor a few minutes ago. Someone went into the kitchen and now there is a brown spot of
chocolate syrup staring right at you. Let's pretend that you are standing about 3 ft away from the spot. As you look at the spot, an imaginary
diagonal line is formed from your eyes to the spot. This line is called your line of sight. What if you looked out in a straight horizontal line and
saw a family member coming towards you? Would your line of sight change? Yes, it would. However, most of the time we are looking out, not
down, therefore that horizontal line is always there. What changes is when we look down or up. In our case, we are looking down at the spot.
The angle formed between the line when you look horizontally straight out at your family member and when you look diagonally straight down
at the spot, is the called the angle of depression.

The angle of depression is the angle between the horizontal and your line of sight (when looking down).

Let's pretend that the spot could look up at you. Would it be using the same angle to look up at you? It certainly would. This angle is however
called the angle of elevation. This angle is formed when looking up. Both angles are the same. That means x and y have the same
measure. Since the both green lines are parallel lines, then xand y form alternate interior angles, making x = y.
Therefore, angle of depression = angle of elevation.

Uses of Angles of Depression and Elevation

The angle of depression is a very important angle to certain professionals, not to mention the fact that we form these angles every time we
look at something. Pilots land planes at certain angles of depression. People in watch towers look down at certain angles of depression. The
bird swoops down at a certain angle of depression to catch the worm is a common mathematics example. Angles of depression and angles
of elevation are very important in everyday life. If you go outside and look up at a bird nest on your roof, you are looking at a certain angle of
elevation. If you do not have a good view of the nest, you would probably step back so that you can view at a better angle. Therefore, we use
these angles without even noticing that we do. This angle depends on the height and the horizontal distance.

Formula for Finding the Angle of Depression

In order to find the angle of depression, we must have some prior understanding of the trigonometric ratios,sine, cosine and tangent.
Remember, these ratios only apply to right triangles. A quick review follows:

The main ratio that we use to find the angle of depression is tangent.
The angle of depression may be found by using tan y = opposite/adjacent. The opposite side in this case is usually the height of the
observer or height in terms of location, for example, the height of a plane in the air. The adjacent is usually the horizontal distance between
the object and observer.

Examples
Example 1
Using the kitchen example, let's pretend that you are about 5 ft tall and, as we said earlier, you are standing 3 ft away from the spot. What is
the angle of depression? Remember tan y = opposite (your height) divided by adjacent (the distance between you and the spot).

Bearings
A bearing is an angle, measured clockwise from the north direction. Below, the bearing of B from A is 025 degrees (note 3
figures are always given). The bearing of A from B is 205 degrees.

Example
A, B and C are three ships. The bearing of A from B is 045. The bearing of C from A is 135. If AB= 8km and AC= 6km,
what is the bearing of B from C?

tanC = 8/6, so C = 53.13

y = 180 - 135 = 45 (interior angles)
x = 360 - 53.13 - 45 (angles round a point)
= 262 (to the nearest whole number)

The distance d of a point (x, y) from the origin

5b4
According to the Pythagorean theorem, and the meaning of
therectangular cordinates (x, y),
d = x + y.
2

Therefore,

"The distance of a point from the origin

is equal to the square root of the
sum of the squares of the cordinates."
Example 1. How far from the origin is the point (4, 5)?

Problem 3. How far from the origin is the point (5, 12)?

Directions and Bearings

The direction to a point is stated as the number of degrees east or west of north or south.

For example, the direction of A from O is N30E.

B is N60W from O.
C is S70E from O.
D is S80W from O.

Note:
N30E means the direction is 30 east of north.
The bearing to a point is the angle measured in a clockwise direction from the north line.

For example, the bearing of P from O is 065.

The bearing of Q from O is 300.

Note:
The direction of P from O is N65E.
The direction of Q from O is N60W.

A bearing is used to represent the direction of one point relative to another point.
For example, the bearing of A from B is 065.
The bearing of B from A is 245.

Note:

Three figures are used to give bearings.

All bearings are measured in a horizontal plane.

Example 19
A boat sails from a certain port in the direction N30W. After the boat has sailed 20 km, how far is it west of the port?

Solution:
Let the boat be x km west of the port.

So, the boat is 10 km west of the port.

Example 20
A cyclist travels 10 km south, then 8 km east. Find the cyclist's bearing from her starting point to the nearest degree.

Solution:

So, the cyclist's bearing is 141 from her starting point.