Therefore, to determine the height of the pole:

1. Write down all the given information on the sketch.

2. Use the information for FAB to calculate FB.
3. Use FB and the information for TFB to calculate FT.
Step 3: Determine the length of FB
We notice that FAB does not have a right-angle, so we use the sine rule to determine
FB.
In FAB :

F = 180

40

30

(s sum of FAB)
= 110

FB
sin

A
=
AB
sin

F
FB
sin 40

=
120
sin 110

FB =
120 sin 40

sin 110

FB = 82,084 . . .
Step 4: Determine the length of FT
In TFB:

F = 90

(vertical pole)

B = 25

(given)
tan

B =
FT
FB
tan

B FB = FT
tan 25

82,084 . . . = FT
FT = 38,246 . . .
38 m (to nearest metre)
Note: do not round off answers in the intermediate steps as this will affect the accuracy
of the nal answer. Always try to do the calculation in one complete step and only
round off the nal answer.
Step 5: Write the nal answer
The height of the pole, h, is 38 m.
The calculation in the above worked example is only applicable for the specic num-
bers given. However, if we derived a general formula for this contextual situation, then
it could be applied to any suitable set of numerical values.
166 4.5. Applications of trigonometric functions