Trig River
Students learn about and use a right triangle to determine the width of a "pretend" river. Working in teams, they estimate of the width of the river, measure it and compare their results with classmates.
How wide is a river?Copyright Wikimedia Commons http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Hawk's_Nest_view_of_DelawareR.jpg/305px-Hawk's_Nest_view_of_DelawareR.jpg
Sometimes engineers cannot directly measure an object's size or distance because it would take too much time, or it is physically impossible (a tape measure to find the distance from the Earth to Pluto?). Instead of actually measuring a size or distance, engineers use trigonometry and other mathematical relationships to estimate it very accurately.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Use right triangle trigonometry and angle measurements to calculate distances
- Convert from US customary to metric units
- Perform averaging and comparison of numbers
- Explain how engineers use trigonometry and other mathematical relationships to estimate distances