TRIGONOMETRY PROBLEMS

Problem 1: Find x and H in the right triangle below.

Solution:
1. x = 10 / tan(51o) = 8.1 (2 significant digits)
1. H = 10 / sin(51o) = 13 (2 significant digits)

Problem 2: Find the lengths of all sides of the right triangle below if its area is 400.

Solution:
Area = (1/2)(2x)(x) = 400

Solve for x: x = 20 , 2x = 40

Pythagora's theorem: (2x)2 + (x)2 = H2

H = x sqrt(5) = 20 sqrt(5)

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Problem 3: BH is perpendicular to AC. Find x the length of BC.

Solution:

BH perpendicular to AC means that triangles ABH and HBC are right triangles. Hence
tan(39o) = 11 / AH or AH = 11 / tan(39o)
HC = 19 - AH = 19 - 11 / tan(39o)

Pythagora's theorem applied to right triangle HBC: 112 + HC2 = x2

solve for x and substitute HC: x = sqrt [ 112 + (19 - 11 / tan(39o) )2 ]
= 12.3 (rounded to 3 significant digits)

Problem 4: ABC is a right triangle with a right angle at A. Find x the length of DC.

Solution:

Since angle A is right, both triangles ABC and ABD are right and therefore we can apply
Pythagora's theorem.

142 = 102 + AD2 , 162 = 102 + AC2

Also x = AC - AD
= sqrt( 162 - 102 ) - sqrt( 142 - 102 ) = 2.69 (rounded to 3 significant digits)

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 Problem 5: In the figure below AB and CD are perpendicular to BC and the size of
angle ACB is 31o. Find the length of segment BD.

Solution:

1. Use right triangle ABC to write: tan(31o) = 6 / BC , solve: BC = 6 / tan(31o)

Use Pythagora's theorem in the right triangle BCD to write:
92 + BC2 = BD2

Solve above for BD and substitute BC: BD = sqrt [ 9 + ( 6 / tan(31o) )2 ]

= 13.4 (rounded to 3 significant digits)

Problem 6: The area of a right triangle is 50. One of its angles is 45o. Find the lengths of
the sides and hypotenuse of the triangle.

Solution:

The triangle is right and the size one of its angles is 45o; the third angle has a size
45o and therefore the triangle is right and isosceles. Let x be the length of one of the
sides and H be the length of the hypotenuse.

Area = (1/2)x2 = 50 , solve for x: x = 10

We now use Pythagora to find H: x2 + x2 = H2
Solve for H: H = 10 sqrt(2)

Problem 7: In a right triangle ABC, tan(A) = 3/4. Find sin(A) and cos(A).

Solution:
Let a be the length of the side opposite angle A, b the length of the side adjacent to angle A
and h be the length of the hypotenuse.
tan(A) = opposite side / adjacent side = a/b = 3/4

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We can say that: a = 3k and b = 4k , where k is a coefficient of proportionality. Let us find h.
Pythagora's theorem: h2 = (3k)2 + (5k)2

Solve for h: h = 5k
sin(A) = a / h = 3k / 5k = 3/5 and cos(A) = 4k / 5k = 4/5

Problem 8: In a right triangle ABC with angle A equal to 90o, find angle B and C so that sin(B)
= cos(B).

Solution:

Let b be the length of the side opposite angle B and c the length of the side opposite angle C
and h the length of the hypotenuse.

sin(B) = b/h and cos(B) = c/h

sin(B) = cos(B) means b/h = c/h which gives c = b

The two sides are equal in length means that the triangle is isosceles and angles B and C are
equal in size of 45o.

Problem 9: A rectangle has dimensions 10 cm by 5 cm. Determine the measures of

the angles at the point where the diagonals intersect.

Solution:

1. The diagram below shows the rectangle with the diagonals and half one of the angles
with size x.

tan(x) = 5/2.5 = 2 , x = arctan(2)

larger angle made by diagonals 2x = 2 arctan(2) = 127o (3 significant digits)
Smaller angle made by diagonals 180 - 2x = 53o.

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Problem 10: The lengths of side AB and side BC of a scalene triangle ABC are 12 cm and 8 cm
respectively. The size of angle C is 59o. Find the length of side AC.

Solution:

1. Let x be the length of side AC. Use the cosine law

122 = 82 + x2 - 2*8*x*cos(59o)

Solve the quadratic equation for x: x = 14.0 and x = -5.7

x cannot be negative and therefore the solution is x = 14.0 (rounded to one decimal
place).

Problem 11:
A man is walking along a straight road. He notices the top of a tower subtending an angle A =
60o with the ground at the point where he is standing. If the height of the tower is h = 35 m,
then what is the distance (in meters) of the man from the tower?
Solution:

Let BC represent the tower with height h = 35 m, and A represent

the point where the man is standing. AB = d denotes the distance of
the man from tower. The angle subtended by the tower is A = 60o.
From trigonometry,
tan A = tan 60o = h / d = 3

So d = 35 / 3 s m.
Hence the distance of the man from the tower is 20.21 m.

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Problem 12:
A little boy is flying a kite. The string of the kite makes an angle of 30 o with the ground. If
the height of the kite is h = 12 m, find the length (in meters) of the string that the boy has
used.
Solution:

If the kite is at C and the boy is at A, then AC = l represents the length

of the string and BC = hrepresents the height of the kite.

From the figure, sin A = sin 30o = h / l = 1 / 2. Hence the length of the
string used by the little boy is l = 2 h = 2 (12) = 24 m.

Problem 13:
Two towers face each other separated by a distance d = 35 m. As seen from the top of the
first tower, the angle of depression of the second tower's base is 60 o and that of the top is
30o. What is the height (in meters) of the second tower?
Solution:

The first tower AB and the second tower CD are

depicted in the figure on the left.
First consider the triangle BAC. Angle C = 60o.
tan BCA = tan 60o = AB / AC.
This gives AB = d tan 60o.
Similarly for the triangle BED, BE = d tan 30o.

Now height of the second tower CD = AB BE

= d (tan 60o tan 30o)
= 35 (3 1/ 3) = 35 2 / 3 = 40.41 m.

Problem 14:
A ship of height h = 24 m is sighted from a lighthouse. From the top of the lighthouse, the
angle of depression to the top of the mast and the base of the ship equal 30o and
45o respectively. How far is the ship from the lighthouse (in meters)?

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Solution:
Let AB represent the lighthouse and CD represent the ship. From the
figure, tanBCA = tan 45o = AB / AC.
Similarly for the triangle BED, tan BDE = tan 30o = BE / ED.
Now, AC = ED = d.
Height of the ship = CD
= AB BE = d (tan 45o tan 30o) = 24 m.
Thus distance of the ship from the lighthouse d = 24 / (1 1 / 3 ) =
56.78 m

Problem15:
Two men on opposite sides of a TV tower of height 20 m notice the angle of elevation of the
top of this tower to be 45oand 60o respectively. Find the distance (in meters) between the
two men.
Solution:

The situation is depicted in the figure with CD

representing the tower and AB being the distance
between the two men.
For triangle ACD,
tan A = tan 60o = CD / AD.
Similarly for triangle BCD,
tan B = tan 45o = CD / DB.
The distance between the two men is AB = AD + DB
= (CD / tan 60o) + (CD / tan 45o)
= (20 / 3) + (20 / 1) = 31.55 m.

Problem 16:
Two men on the same side of a tall building notice the angle of elevation to the top of the
building to be 30o and 60orespectively. If the height of the building is known to be h =60 m,
find the distance (in meters) between the two men.
Solution:

In the figure, A and B represent the two men and

CD the tall building.
tan A = tan 30o = DC / AC = h / AC; and
tan B = tan 60o = DC / BC = h / BC.
Now the distance between the men is AB
= x = AC BC = (h / tan 30o) (h / tan 60o)
= (60 3 ) (60 / 3 ) = 69.28 m.

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Problem 17:
A pole of height h = 50 ft has a shadow of length l = 50.00 ft at a particular instant of time.
Find the angle of elevation (in degrees) of the sun at this point of time.
Solution:

In the figure, BC represents the pole and AB its shadow.

tan A = BC / AB
= h / l = 50 / 50.00 = 1.000
From trigonometric tables, we note that
tan A = 1.000 for A =45o.
Hence the angle of elevation of the sun at this point of time
is 45o.

Problem 18:
You are stationed at a radar base and you observe an unidentified plane at an altitude h =
2000 m flying towards your radar base at an angle of elevation = 30 o. After exactly one
minute, your radar sweep reveals that the plane is now at an angle of elevation =
60o maintaining the same altitude. What is the speed (in m/s) of the plane?
Solution:
In the figure, the radar base is at point A. The
plane is at point D in the first sweep and at
point E in the second sweep. The distance it
covers in the one minute interval is DE.
From the figure,
tan DAC = tan 30o = DC / AC = h / AC.
Similarly,
tan EAB = tan 60o = EB / AB = h / AB.
Distance covered by the plane in one minute =
DE = AC AB
= (h / tan 30o) (h / tan 60o)
= (2000 3) (2000 / 3 ) = 2309.40 m.
The velocity of the plane is given by V =
distance covered / time taken
= DE / 60 = 38.49 m/s.

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Problem 19:
Mark is flying a kite and realizes that 300 feet of string are out. The angle of the string with
the ground is 42.5. How high is Mark's kite above the ground?

Solution:
write and solve a trig equation.
sin42.5300sin42.5x=x300=x202.7
The kite is about 202.7 feet off of the ground.

Problem 20: The sun's angle of inclination is 20 degrees, and a pole casts a 40 foot shadow.
How tall is the pole?

Solution
Using the image above, X = 20 degrees, and y = 40 ft.

tan X = x / y
0.3640 = x / 40
x = 14.56 ft

Problem 21: 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?

Solution
Using the image above, X = 30 degrees and z = 50 ft.

sin X = x / z
0.5 = x / 50
x = 25

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Problem 22: A man walks 5 miles at 60 degrees north of east. How far east of his starting
point is he?

Solution
Using the image above, with y representing the eastern travel, x representing the northern
travel, and z representing the actual path of the man,

sin X = x / z
0.8660 = x / 5
x=4.33 miles.

Problem 23: A man walks in a northeasterly direction for 30 miles, and he ends up 5 miles
east of his starting point. In what direction was he walking?

Solution
Using the image above,
cos-1 (y/z) = X
cos-1 (5/30) = 80.4 degrees North of East

Problem 24: After walking for awhile, Jack ends up twice as far east of his starting point as he
is north of his starting point. In what direction was he walking?

Solution
His east distance is 2n, and his north distance is n.

tan-1 (n/2n) = tan-1 (1/2) = 26.57 degrees

Problem 25: If the distance of a person from a tower is 100 m and the angle subtended by the
top of the tower with the ground is 30o, what is the height of the tower in meters?

Solution:

AB = distance of the man from the tower = 100 m

BC = height of the tower = h (to be calculated)

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 The trigonometric function that uses AB and BC is tan A , where A = 30o.

So tan 30o = opp / adj = h / 100

Therefore height of the tower h = 100 tan 30o = (100) = 57.74 m.

Problem 26: a 7.5M Ladder is leaned up against a wall, what angle does the ladder make with
the wall if the top of the ladder is 6.6m above the ground?

Solution:

When the top is 6.6 meters above the ground, the cosine of an angle the ladder makes with the
wall is given by:
cos()=6.6/7.5=0.88

=arccos(0.88)=28.36

Problem 27: Find sin-1 0.1.

Solution
Use the inverse sine function on your calculator to obtain: sin-1 0.1 = 5.74 degrees

Problem 28: In right triangle ABC (right angle at C) a = 20 and c = 30. What is the measure of
angle A?

Solution
sin-1 20 / 30 = 41.8 degrees

Problem 29: Solve the oblique triangle with the following data: a = 6 m, B = 45
and C = 105.

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Solution:

Problem 30: Prove the following identity: tan()cos() = sin()

Solution:

tan()cos() = sin()

= sin()

sin() = sin()

Problem 31: Prove the following identity: (sin())4 +2(sin())2(cos())2 + (cos())4 = tan()cot()

Solution:

(sin())4 +2(sin())2(cos())2 + (cos())4 = tan()cot()

(sin())4 +2(sin())2(cos())2 + (cos())4 =

(sin())4 +2(sin())2(cos())2 + (cos())4 = 1

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 ((sin())2 + (cos())2)((sin())2 + (cos())2) = 1

(1)(1) = 1

Problem 32: Prove the following identity: - cos()(cot())2 = cot()sin()

Solution:

- cos()(cot())2 = cot()sin()

- =

- = cos()

- =1

(csc())2 - (cot())2 = 1

(csc())2 = 1 + (cot())2

Problem 33: Find side a given that b = 7.5m., c = 5.9m., A = 49o

Solution:
Cos(a) = [Cos(b) . Cos(c)] +[Sin(b) . Sin(c) .Cos(A)]

Substituting the values given above, we have:

Cos(a) = [Cos(7.5).Cos(5.9)] + [Sin(7.5). Sin(5.9).Cos(49o)]

= [0.991 x 0.995] + [0.13 x 0.10 x 0.66]
= 0.986 + 0.009
= 0.995
therefore a = 5.73m.

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Problem 34: Given the following: Lat. = 45o North, Dec. = 18o North, and Time = 3 hours after
noon, find the distance of the observer from the Suns GP.
Solution:
EX = 18o therefore PX = 90o 18o = 72o
CZ = 45o therefore PZ = 90o 45o = 45o
Angle ZPX = 45o (since 3 hours = a time angle of 3 x 15o).

Problem 35: Invert the matrix

Solution:

Invert the matrix

A general inversion formula for a 2x2 matrix is:

So the inverse for this matrix is:

Problem 36: Find the amplitude and period of

Solution:

Find the amplitude and period of

The amplitude is the coefficient in front of the wave function.

Amplitude =

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The period is where is the coefficient of the argument of the wave function.

Period =

Problem 37: If and is in the third quadrant, then find .

Solution:

Since x is in the third quadrant, cos(x) is negative.

So,

Problem 38: If a 10 foot tall ladder leans against a wall, and the base of the ladder is 5 feet
away from the wall, then how far up the wall does the ladder go?

Solution:

se Pythagoras' Theorem so that .

Then

Remember that the square root gives a positive and negative answer, but since we're talking
about a distance in the real world, use the positive answer.

Problem 39: If an 11 foot tall ladder leans against a wall, and the base of the ladder makes a
24 degree angle with the ground, then how far up the wall does the ladder go?

Solution:

Use the fact that sine = opposite / hypotenuse to get

So that

feet.

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Problem 40: If the length b = 10 ft, c = 12 ft and the angle A = 70 o in figure 1, find the length a.

Solution:

Given the two sides and an included angle, we must be sure to apply cosine rule here.

Plug in the values, b = 10 ft, c = 12 ft and the angle A = 70 o

a = 12.7 ft

Problem 41: The three sides of a triangle are given: a = 10cm, b = 8cm, c = 7cm Find the angle
C.

Solution:

Insert the given values.

C = 52.62o

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Problem 42: Find the tangent of an angle if its sine and cosine is 0.2 and 0.05 respectively.

Solution: From the relationship of sin, cos and tan, we have

Problem 43: Convert 5/6 radians to degrees, and convert 300 to radians.
Solution: To convert from radians to degrees, multiply by 180/:

To convert from degrees to radians, multiply by /180:

Problem 44: Simplify the trigonometric expression

Solution: Use the identites given above as follows:

by FOIL in the numerator

by the Pythagorean identity

by the quotient identity

by canceling out the sin2x terms

by the definition of secant

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Problem 45: Problem: Evaluate sin(75) without a calculator.

Solution: Notice that 75 = 30 + 45. We can then use the addition formula for
sine, , to evaluate sin(75) as sin(30+45):

sin(30+45) =sin(30)cos(45)+cos(30)sin(45)

= * + *

= +

Problem 46:

Solution: We know that the therefore

Problem 47:

Solution: We know that the therefore

Problem 48:

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Solution : We know that the therefore

Problem 49:

Solution

Step 1: To solve for x, you must first isolate the cosine term.

Step 2: We know that therefore

Problem 50:

Solution:

Step 1: To solve for x, you must first isolate the tangent term.

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