Professional Documents
Culture Documents
– Hard Problems
Solve the problem.
This problem is very difficult to understand. Let’s see if we can make sense of it. Note that
there are multiple interpretations of the problem and that they are all unsatisfactory.
The problem does not say the lake is a circle, but if it is not, the problem cannot be
solved. So, let’s assume the lake is a circle.
What is a transit? From www.surveyhistory.org, we get “The transit is used by the
surveyor to measure both horizontal and vertical angles.”
A transit A piling
What is a piling? From wisegeek.com, a piling is “a component in a foundation
which is driven into the ground to ensure that the foundation is deep.”
We will need a right angle to solve a problem with only one length and angle given,
so let’s infer a 90˚ angle as shown in the following diagram.
Based on the diagram, which meets every
criterion laid out in the problem, we now
have:
tan 35°
90
90 ∙ tan 35° ft.
The body of water in this problem would be
better described as a pond than a lake!
Page 1 of 10
Trigonometry – Hard Problems
Based on the illustration at right, we get the following:
90
tan .45
200
tan .45 °
The key on this type of problem is to draw the correct triangle.
Recall that tan
Since is in 2, we can plot the point 3, 8 to help us.
Notice that the hypotenuse must have length: 3 8 √73.
√
Then, cos
√
So we seek the angle in Q4, where tangent is also 0, with
the same tangent value as .
Recall that the tangent function has a period of radians.
Then,
tan tan
Page 2 of 10
Trigonometry – Hard Problems
5) Find the exact value of the expression.
√ Know where the primary values for
a. cos
the inverse trig functions are
√ defined.
b. sin
sin θ is defined in Q1 and Q4.
√ cos θ is defined in Q1 and Q2.
c. tan
tan θ is defined in Q1 and Q4.
You can think of this as adding two vectors with the bearings identified in the problem.
Step 1: Convert each vector into its i and j components, using reference angles.
Let u be a vector of 25 mi. at bearing: N63°W
From the diagram at right,
θ 90° 63° 27°
25 cos 27° 22.2752
25 sin 27° 11.3498
Let v be a vector of 24 mi. at bearing: S27°W
From the diagram at right,
φ 90° 27° 63°
24 cos 63° 10.8958
24 sin 63° 21.3842
Step 2: Add the results for the two vectors Step 3: Find the resulting angle and convert it to
its “bearing” form (see diagram above right).
〈 22.2752, 11.3498 〉
〈 10.8958, 21.3842〉 10.0344
tan 16.8°
33.1710
〈 33.1710, 10.0344〉
Bearing S 90° 16.8° W . °
Page 3 of 10
Trigonometry – Hard Problems
7) A ship is 50 miles west and 31 miles south of a harbor. What bearing should the Captain
set to sail directly to harbor?
θ tan 31.8°
φ 90° 31.8° 58.2°
. °
For Problems 8 and 9 , use: or with 0
The period of our function is 5 seconds. So, we get:
1 1 1 2
2 2 ∙
period 5 5 5
Note: both of these functions can
be graphed using the Trigonometry
The resulting equation, then, is:
app available at www.mathguy.us.
The resulting equation, then, is:
Page 4 of 10
Trigonometry – Hard Problems
cos
sin sin ∙ cot sin sin ∙ sin cos Answer B
sin
√3
1
1 1 cos 150° 2 √
sin 75° sin ∙ 150°
2 2 2
3 √2
1 cos 1
3 1 3 4 2 √
cos cos ∙
8 2 4 2 2
Note: the half‐angle formula has a " " sign in front. We use “ ” for this problem
because is in Q1, and cosine values are positive in Q1.
Page 5 of 10
Trigonometry – Hard Problems
0, π sin
,
, , ,
Page 6 of 10
Trigonometry – Hard Problems
∙
cos
‖ ‖ ‖ ‖
0° 180°
a 〈1, 1〉
∙ 〈4, 5〉
1∙4 1 ∙5 1
‖ ‖ 1 1 √2
‖ ‖ 4 5 √41
∙
cos
‖ ‖ ‖ ‖
√ ∙ √ √
1
cos . °
√82
b 〈 1, 2〉
∙ 〈 3, 3〉
1∙3 2∙ 3 9
‖ ‖ 1 2 √5
‖ ‖ 3 3 3√2
∙
cos
‖ ‖ ‖ ‖ √ ∙ √ √
3
cos . °
√10
Page 7 of 10
Trigonometry – Hard Problems
Substitute cos and
3
3
3
3 0
9 9
3
4 4
Substitute x r cos
4 8
4 8
4 8
4 8 0
4 4 8 16 4 16
Page 8 of 10
Trigonometry – Hard Problems
a) The process of putting a complex number in polar form is very similar to converting
a set of rectangular coordinates to polar coordinates. So, if this process seems
familiar, that’s because it is.
3 3√3
3 3√3 6
3√3 2
tan tan √3 in 2
3 3
So, the polar form is: 6 cos sin
b) 5√3 5
5√3 5 10
5 √3 7
tan tan in 3
5√3 3 6
Page 9 of 10
Trigonometry – Hard Problems
3 3 √3
3 3√3 6
3√3 2
tan tan √3 in 2
3 3
Page 10 of 10