1. A ladder 5 m long, leaning against a vertical wall makes an angle of 65˚ with the ground.

a) How high on the wall does the ladder reach?

b) How far is the foot of the ladder from the wall?
c) What angle does the ladder make with the wall?

The teacher will guide students to first sketch a diagram to represent the worded problem.
By doing the following things.

 Sketch the diagram

 Mark the right angles in the diagram.
 Show the sizes of the other angles and the lengths of any lines that are known
 Mark the angles or sides you have to calculate.
 Consider whether you need to create right triangles by drawing extra lines. For example, divide an
isosceles triangle into two congruent right triangles.
Decide whether you will need Pythagorean theorem, sine, cosine or tangent

a) The height that the ladder reach is PQ

PQ = sin 65˚ × 5 = 4.53 m

b) The distance of the foot of the ladder from the wall is RQ.

RQ = cos 65˚ × 5 = 2.11 m

c) The angle that the ladder makes with the wall is angle P
Culminating Activity
Students will be given similar questions and will be guided to work independently as well as in pairs.

1. A six-meter-long ladder leans against a building. If the ladder makes an angle of 60° with the
ground, how far up the wall does the ladder reach? How far from the wall is the base of the ladder?
Round your answers to two decimal places.

2. A 10 meter long ladder rests against a vertical wall so that the distance between the foot of the
ladder and the wall is 2 meter. Find the angle the ladder makes with the wall and height above the
ground at which the upper end of the ladder touches the wall.

3. A ramp is 50 feet long, and it is set at a 30 degree angle of inclination. If you walk up the ramp,
how high off the ground will you be?

4. A man walks 5 miles at 60 degrees north of east. How far east of his starting point is he?

5. A boy flying a kite lets out 300 feet of string which makes an angle of 38 with the ground.
Assuming that the string is straight, how high above the ground is the kite?

6. A ladder leaning against the wall makes an angle of 74 with the ground. If the foot of the ladder
is 6.5 feet from the wall, how high on the wall is the ladder?

7. A straight road to the top of a hill is 2500 feet long and makes an angle of 12 with the horizontal.
Find the height of the hill.

8. An airplane climbs at an angle of 11 with the ground. Find the ground distance it has traveled
when it has attained an altitude of 400 feet.

9. A wire attached to the top of a pole reaches a stake in the ground 20 feet from the foot of the pole
and makes an angle of 58 with the ground. Find the length of the wire.

10. Henry is flying a kite. The kite string makes an angle of 43 with the ground. If Henry is standing
100 feet from a point on the ground directly below the kite, find the length of the kite string.

11. A 25 foot ladder leans against a building. The ladder’s base is 13.5 feet from the building. Find the
angle which the ladder makes with the ground.

12. In order to reach the top of a hill which is 250 feet high, one must travel 2000 feet straight up a
road which leads to the top. Find the number of degrees contained in the angle which the road
makes with the horizontal.

13. A ladder leans against a building. The top of the ladder reaches a point on the building which is 18
feet above the ground. The foot of the ladder is 7 feet from the building. Find the measure of the
angle which the ladder makes with the level ground.
Trigonometry Skills

Formulae You Should Know

You should already know each of the following formulae:

Formulae for right-angled triangles ONLY

Formulae for all triangles

Choosing The Appropriate Technique
Sometimes more than one technique from the formula table at the top of this page can be used to solve a trig
problem, but you will want to choose the most efficient and easiest method to save time. The flowchart below
shows how to decide which method to use:

These examples illustrate the decision-making process for a variety of triangles:

1 1. The triangle is not right-angled.

2. We do know a side and its opposite angle.
3. Therefore we use the Sine Rule.

2 1. The triangle is right-angled.

2. The question involves angles.
3. Therefore we use trig ratios - sin, cos and tan.

3 1. The triangle is right-angled.

2. The question does not involve angles.
3. Therefore we use Pythagoras's Theorem.

4 1. The triangle is not right-angled.

2. We do not know a side and its opposite angle.
3. Therefore we use the Cosine Rule.
Trig Word Problem

1. There is a ramp that is twenty feet long and it rises to a platform that is 18 feet off the ground.

Draw a picture of the situation.

a. Find the length of the third side _______________

b. Find the angle of elevation _____________

c. What is the missing angle? _________________

d. Explain the following terms: (a) Angles of elevation and depression (b) Line of sight (c) Clinometer
e. Use a clinometer to measure angles of elevation and depression
f. Measure lengths and use measurements to determine angle measures.
g. Apply sine, cosine and tangent ratios to find angles of elevation and depression given as worded
questions.

2. A kite has a string that is 400 feet long. If the string makes an angle 42o with the ground

Draw a picture of the situation

a. Find the height of the kite

b. Use the cosine function to find the missing side (how far away is he kite from you horizontally)
 Name___________________________________

Sine, Cosine, and Tangent Practice

Find the value of each trigonometric ratio. Express your answer as a fraction in lowest terms.

1) sin C 2) sin C

A A

50
29 30
21

C 40 B
C 20 B

3) cos C 4) cos C

A A
39
15

C 17 15
36 B

C 8 B

5) tan A 6) tan X

C Z
37
12
45
A 36
35 B

X 27 Y
-1-
Find the value of each trigonometric ratio to the nearest ten-thousandth.

7) sin 62° 8) sin 14°

9) cos 60° 10) cos 31°

11) tan 79° 12) tan 25°

Find the missing side. Round to the nearest tenth.

13) 14) x
x

59° 17 17 60°

15) 16)
x
20
51°
27° 10
x

17) 18)
x
x 12
40°
53°
20
-2-
Find the measure of the indicated angle to the nearest degree.

19) 20)
44
26
?
39 ?
33

21) 22)
24
20
?
?
36 23

23) 24)
10 33 ?
? 13 16

Find each angle measure to the nearest degree.

25) sin X = 0.7547 26) sin A = 0.4540

27) cos Y = 0.5736 28) cos B = 0.5000

29) tan B = 0.6249 30) tan C = 0.1405

-3-
Solve the following word problems. For each question, draw a diagram to help you.

31) An airplane is flying at an altitude of 6000 m over the ocean directly toward a coastline. At a certain
time, the angle of depression to the coastline from the airplane is 14°. How much farther (to the
nearest kilometer) does the airplane have to fly before it is directly above the coastline?

32) From a horizontal distance of 80.0 m, the angle of elevation to the top of a flagpole is 18°. Calculate
the height of the flagpole to the nearest tenth of a metre.

33) A 9.0 m ladder rests against the side of a wall. The bottom of the ladder is 1.5 m from the base of the
wall. Determine the measure of the angle between the ladder and the ground, to the nearest degree.

34) The angle of elevation of the sun is 68° when a tree casts a shadow 14.3 m long. How tall is the tree,
to the nearest tenth of a metre?

35) A wheelchair ramp is 4.2 m long. It rises 0.7 m. What is its angle of inclination to the nearest
degree?

36) A person flying a kite has released 176 m of string. The string makes an angle of 27° with the
ground. How high is the kite? How far away is the kite horizontally? Answer to the nearest metre.

-4-
 Answers to Sine, Cosine, and Tangent Practice (ID: 1)
  
1)  2)  3) 
  
4)  5)  6) 
7) 0.8829 8) 0.2419 9) 0.5000
10) 0.8572 11) 5.1446 12) 0.4663
13) 14.6 14) 14.7 15) 17.8
16) 15.9 17) 23.8 18) 15.9
19) 62° 20) 52° 21) 48°
22) 30° 23) 17° 24) 39°
25) 49° 26) 27° 27) 55°
28) 60° 29) 32° 30) 8°
31) 24 km 32) 26.0 m 33) 80°
34) 35.4 m 35) 10° 36) 80 m high, 157 m away
Angle of Elevation and Depression Worksheet 2
Draw a picture to represent each situation, then use angles of elevation or depression to find
the missing value.

1. At a point on the ground 50 feet from the front of a tree, the angle of elevation to the top of
the tree is 48. Find the height of the tree.

2. A ladder is leaning against a wall. The foot of the ladder is 6.5 feet from the wall. The
ladder makes an angle of 74 with the level ground. How high on the wall does the ladder
reach?

3. A wooden beam 24 feet long leans against a wall and makes and angle of 71 with the
ground. How high up the wall does the beam reach?

4. A plane took off from a field and rose at an angle of 8 with the horizontal ground. As the
plane flies over a water tower, it has covered a distance from the take off point of 2000 feet.
How far apart are the take off point and the water tower?

5. A 20 foot ladder leans against a building and makes an angle of 72 with the ground. Find
the distance between the foot of the ladder and the building.

6. A straight road to the top of a hill is 2500 feet long and makes an angle of 12 with the
horizontal. Find the height of the hill.

7. Find the measure of the angle of elevation of the sun when a boy 5 feet tall casts a shadow
5 feet long.

8. Find the measure of the angle of elevation of the sun when a vertical post 15 feet tall casts
a shadow 20 feet long.

9. After takeoff, a plane flies in a straight line for a distance of 4000 feet in order to gain an
altitude of 800 feet. Find the angle of elevation from the ground to the plane.

10. A 40 foot ladder which is leaning against a wall reaches the wall at a point 36 feet above
the ground. Find the measure of the angle created between the ladder and the ground.