simple trig help needed

[mikim]

ACTUALLY ...the really easy way is to wait til summer when the creek will dry up and I could walk across and do whatever.....BUT ....my main purpose is to show my 10 yr old (g'son) how math can be useful out in the world. I'll do the really boring stuff like hauling the transit and setup before he gets home from school. Trying to get a little focus in his homework.

 

[lockhaven]

that is a great idea, sometimes in school the problems do not relate to a student. when the science is used for something that they can see and touch it makes a huge difference.:thumbsup:

 

[GPintheMitten]

The fact that there are so many different techniques to solve this problem does give you an opportunity to get kids involved in trigonometry and in practical solutions too.

I like the boy scout with a stick method. Actually foresters today still use a similar method for calculating tree heights when doing sampling to estimate timber volume. They use prisms too, to determine which trees are in the sample.

I am not a forester but I bet someone in TBN land has done some timber cruising/estimating.

By the way, the stick method is based on geometry theorems, as well. Do you remember which theorem?

 

[GPintheMitten]

In high school, we had a great geometry teacher. He taught us to be very disciplined. We had to prove the great planar geometry theorems. Then we went on to learn basic logic.

It was never good enough to say things like, well, the reason is that it seems right, or I measured several examples and determined it must be right.