13/02/2024, 13:23 Altitude Equation Derivation

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Flying kites is a relatively safe and inexpensive way for students to learn the basics of forces and the response of vehicles to
external forces. Students can also use math techniques learned in high school to determine the altitude of the kite during the
flight.

On this page we derive the equations which are shown on the figure to determine the altitude of a kite during the flight. The
procedure requires a flyer and an observer to measure several angles. The observer is placed some distance L from the
flyer along a reference line which is shown in white on the figure. While the kite is flying, the flyer measures the angle a
between the ground and the kite. This measurement is taken perpendicular to the ground. The flyer then measures the
angle b between the kite and the reference line. This measurement is taken parallel to the ground. The observer measures
the angle d from the ground to the kite and the angle c, parallel to the ground, between the direction the observer is facing
and the reference line.

With the four measured angles and the measured distance between the observers, we can use some relations from
trigonometry to derive the equation for the altitude h. We will need four "construction" triangles to derive the equation. The
first two triangles are formed by the altitude h, the line of sight from the observers to the kite, and the ground track of the line
of sight. From the flyer, we have our first trigonometry relations:

Eq. 1:

h / w = tan a
Eq. 1a:
h = w * tan a
Eq. 1b:
w = h / tan a

and from the observer:

Eq. 2:
h / x = tan d

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13/02/2024, 13:23 Altitude Equation Derivation
Eq. 2a:
h = x * tan d
Eq. 2b:
x = h / tan d

If we drop a perpendicular line from the base of the altitude to the reference line, we construct two triangles with the
following properties:

Eq. 3:

y / w = cos b
Eq. 3a:
y = w * cos b
Eq. 4:
m / w = sin b
Eq. 4a:
m = w * sin b
Eq. 5:
z / x = cos c
Eq. 5a:
z = x * cos c
Eq. 6:
m / x = sin c
Eq. 6a:
m = x * sin c
Eq. 7:
L=y+z

We will start with Eq. 7 and substitute the value of y from Eq, 3a and the value of z from Eq, 5a:

Eq. 8:

L = w * cos b + x * cos c

Now substitute the value for w from Eq. 1b and the value of x from Eq. 2b:

Eq. 9:

L = h * (cos b / tan a) + h * (cos c / tan d)

Eq. 9a:
L = h * ((cos b / tan a) + (cos c / tan d))

Solve for h:

Eq. 10:

h = (L * tan a * tan d) / ( cos b * tan d + cos c * tan a)

A detailed analysis of this trigonometry problem indicates that we really only need three angle measurements along with the
reference length measurement to completely determine the answer. The angles a, b, c, and d are related to each other and
we can eliminate one of the angle measurements and still determine the altitude. We can equate the values of h from Eq. 1a
and Eq. 2a:

Eq. 11:

h = w * tan a = x * tan d
Eq. 11a:
w / x = tan d / tan a

We can derive another relationship for w/x by using Eq. 4a and Eq. 6a:

Eq. 12:

m = w * sin b = x * sin c
Eq. 12a:
w / x = sin c / sin b

Then:

Eq. 13:

tan d / tan a = sin c / sin b

Eq. 13a:
tan d = (sin c / sin b) * tan a
Eq. 13b:
tan a = (sin b / sin c) * tan d

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13/02/2024, 13:23 Altitude Equation Derivation
We can eliminate angle a from the altitude equation by substituting Eq. 13b into Eq. 9a:

Eq. 14:

L = h * ([(cos b * sin c)/ (sin b * tan d)] + (cos c / tan d))

Using the trigonemetric identity: sin/cos = tan:

Eq. 15:

L = h * ( sin c / (tan b * tan d) + (cos c / tan d))

Eq. 15a:
L * tan d = h * ( sin c / tan b + cos c )
Eq. 15b:
L * tan d * tan b = h * ( sin c + cos c * tan b )
Eq. 15c:
L * tan d * tan b = h * cos c * ( tan c + tan b )

Solve for h:

Eq. 16:

h = (L * tan b * tan d) / (cos c * (tan c + tan b))

There is a trigonometric identity, called a double angle formula, for the value of:

Eq. 17:

tan c + tan b = sin(b + c) / (cos b * cos c)

Susbstituting Eq. 17 in Eq. 16:

Eq. 18:

h = (L * tan d * sin b) / sin(b + c)

If, at Eq. 14, we had decided to eliminate angle d in Eq. 9a by using Eq. 13a, the resulting altitude equation is:

Eq. 19:

h = (L * tan a * tan c) / (cos b * (tan b + tan c))

And the double angle formula is

Eq. 20:

h = (L * tan a * sin c) / sin(b + c)

You can use any of these equations to determine the height of any object from a tall tree to a flying rocket. If you have your
observers take all four angle measurements, you can actually make three calculations of the height, which can help to
eliminate errors in the measurments. If you do not know trigonometry, you can still determine the altitude of the kite by using
a graphical solution from the four angle measurements.

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