piller
Gold Member
There are many ways to approach this problem. The first answer given by James is correct for the given example.
Another method which does not involve trig would be to pick a spot on your side of the creek, point 1, and a spot on the other side of the creek, point 2, with the goal of determining the distance between point 1 and point 2.
From point 1 lay out a base line on your side of the creek that is 90 degrees to the line connecting point 1 and point 2 and move down this base line until the angle to point 2 is 45 degrees and mark this spot as point 3.
The distance between point 1 and point 2 will be equal to the distance between point 1 and point 3 on your base line.
Another method which does not involve trig would be to pick a spot on your side of the creek, point 1, and a spot on the other side of the creek, point 2, with the goal of determining the distance between point 1 and point 2.
From point 1 lay out a base line on your side of the creek that is 90 degrees to the line connecting point 1 and point 2 and move down this base line until the angle to point 2 is 45 degrees and mark this spot as point 3.
The distance between point 1 and point 2 will be equal to the distance between point 1 and point 3 on your base line.