Favour Education Centre

青睞教育中心

Mathematics

Using trigonometry (F.3)

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Content: (~ 4 lessons)

Notes Exercises

Summary ~1~

A. Gradient ~3~ Gradient: Ex 1 Page 1

B. Angles of elevation & depression ~5~ Angles of elevation & Pages 2−6
depression: Ex 2A, 2B
C. Bearings ~9~ Bearings: Ex 3A, 2B Pages 7−10
D. Polygons ~17~ Polygons: Ex 4 Pages 11−12
E. Miscellaneous ~20~ Miscellaneous: Ex 5A, 5B Pages 13−19
F. Further problems ~22~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Summary
1. Basic knowledge

(a) Trigonometric ratios

opp. side a a
sin θ = = , a = c ⋅ sin θ , c=
hyp. c sin θ c a
adj. side b b θ
cos θ = = , b = c ⋅ cosθ , c=
hyp. c cosθ b
opp. side a a
tan θ = = , a = b ⋅ tan θ , b=
adj. side b tan θ

(b) Special angles

30° 45° 60°
sin 1 1 2 3
=
2 2 2 2

cos 3 1 2 1
=
2 2 2 2
1
tan 1 3
3

2. Gradients
(a) Angle of inclination is the angle between an inclined (傾斜) plane vertical
distance
(or line) and the horizontal (水平線). In the figure, θ is the θ
horizontal distance
angle of inclination. θ is smaller than 90°.
(b) Gradient = tan θ, where θ is the angle of inclination,
vertical distance
∵ gradient = .
horizontal distance
(c) In problems involving contour maps (等高線地圖), if the map distance of a road is given, it
refers to the horizontal distance, not the distance of the inclined road.
Example:
In the figure, the road AB is 5 cm on the map. A
300m
250m
1 cm : 40000 cm = 1 cm : 400 m B
200m

∴ A' B = 5 × 400 m = 2000 m, A A' = 300 − 200 = 100 m. scale 1:40,000

100 1 A
∴ the gradient of AB = = .
2000 20
A' B

Notes ~1~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

3. Angles of elevation and depression

D
horizontal
♦ The angle of elevation of D from C is x, and the angle of angle of y
depression of C from D is y. depression
♦ x = y because they are alternate angles (錯角) of parallel

ht
ig
fs
lines. angle of

eo
elevation

li n
x
C horizontal

4. Compass bearings (reduced bearings)

(a) Compass bearings are measured either from the north (N) or from the south (S). In the
given figure:
A is N25°E from O; B is N60°W from O; N 25 O
C is S58°W from O; D is S19°E from O. B 60 O A
(b) A point may be due north, east, south or west of another point. W O E
(c) NE, NW, SE and SW means that the angle is 45°. C 58 O D
O
S 19

5. True bearings (whole-circle bearings)

(a) It is measured from the north in the clockwise direction. In the given figures:
N
N
N 153 O N
A O O D
50 O O
218O 346 O
O B
C
A is 050° from O, B is 153° from O, D is 346° from O,
C is 218° from O,
that is, N50°E ; that is, S27°E ; that is, N14°W;
that is, S38°W ;
O is 230° from A, O is 333° from B, O is 166° from D,
O is 038° from C,
that is, S50°W. that is, N27°W. that is, S14°E.
that is, N38°E.

(b) In bearing problems, it is useful to make use of horizontal distances and vertical distances.
Example: AE = AF + FE = AF + BD
C = a cosα+ b cos θ
b CE = ED + DC = FB + DC
B
D = a sinα+ b sin θ
a
AC = AE 2 + CE 2
CE
A F E tan ∠CAE =
AE

Notes ~2~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

6. Areas of plane figures

(a) If the two adjacent sides of a parallelogram are a cm and b cm long, a cm h cm
and their included acute angle is θ, then: θ
b cm
the height h = a．sin θ
∴ area of the parallelogram = a．b．sin θ

(b) If two sides of a triangle are a cm and b cm long, and their included h cm a cm
acute angle is θ, then: θ
the height h = a．sin θ b cm
1
∴ area of the triangle = ⋅ b ⋅ a ⋅ sin θ
2
(c) If each side of an equilateral triangle is x cm, then: x x
the height h = x．sin 60° 60O h

1 1 3 3 2 x
∴ area of the equilateral ∆ = ⋅ x ⋅ x ⋅ sin 60° = x 2 ⋅ = x
2 2 2 4

A. Gradient
Example A1
A road has a gradient of 1:10. What angle does it make with the horizontal?

Example A2
A car rises 30 m after travelling 116 m up a road. Find the distance it
travelled horizontally and the gradient of the road.

Example A3
A boy walks 100 m up a slope along a straight road of inclination 10° and then climbs up a cliff of
rise 20 m by a staircase of gradient 2. Find the total horizontal run of the boy.

Notes ~3~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Example A4
The figure shows part of a map with scale 1:20000. A straight road crosses the 350 m
and 400 m contours at A and B respectively. If AB = 2 cm, what is the average angle of
inclination of the road?

Example A5

Solution:

Notes ~4~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

B. Angles of elevation & depression

Example B1
Find the angle of elevation of the tree top T from the point M.

Example B2
Fig 2.1 shows two boats A and B at sea and a man P on a
cliff. Find
(i) the angle of depression of A from P,
(ii) the angle of elevation of P from B,
(iii) the angle of elevation of P from A,
(iv) the angle of depression of B from P.

Example B3
A man on the top of a tower 70 m high is in line with two cars whose
angles of depression are 43° and 32° . Find the distance between the
cars, correct to 3 significant figures.

Notes ~5~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Example B4
AB and PQ are two building with heights 50 m and h respectively. The
angle of P from A is 25° and the angle of elevation of P from B is 40° .
Find the value of h.

Example B5
A model plane is flying at the constant height of 100
m towards an observer. Initially, the angle of an
elevation of the plane is 32° . Later, it is found to be
54° . Find the distance travelled by the plane during
this period of time.
Solution: In the figure, P and Q represent the two positions of the model plane.

Example B6
The angles of elevation of the top C of a building from two
observers A and B are 32° and 54° respectively. If the
observes stand in line with the foot D of the building and they
are 50 metres apart, find the height of the building correct to the
nearest integer.

Notes ~6~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Example B7
From the top of a tower, the angle of depression of a point A due North on the ground is 40° and
of a point B due South on the ground is 30° . Find the height of the tower if A and B are 78 m apart.

Solution:

Example B8
Two boats are on opposite sides of a lighthouse. The angles of
elevation of the top the lighthouse from them are 48° and
36° respectively. Given that the boats are 300 m
apart, find the height of the lighthouse.

Example B9
From a point on a level ground, the angle of a clock is
27° . On walking 50 m towards the clock, the angle of
elevation becomes 40° . How high is the clock above the
ground? (Correct your answer to 3 significant figures.)

Notes ~7~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Example B10
The angle of elevation of the top of a tower is 30° . On walking 100
m towards the tower, the angle of elevation is found to be 60° . Find
the height of the tower to the nearest m.

Solution: Referring to the figure, let h m be the height of the tower.

Ans. The height of the tower is 87 m, to the nearest m.

Example B11
The shadow of a flag post is 2 m long when the elevation of the sun is 58° . How
much longer will the shadow be when the elevation of sun is 32° ?

Solution:

Notes ~8~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

C. Bearings
Example C1

Example C2

Example C3
The observation posts, A and B, on a straight coastline running
from west to east are 2.5 km apart. The bearing of a ship S
from A is 066° and from B is 320° . Calculate the shortest
distance of the ship from the coastline. (Give the answer
correct to 2 significant figures.)

Notes ~9~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Example C4
Two boys, A and B, start walking from a point O. A walks 6 km/h in a direction N22°W , B walks 8
km/h in a direction N68°E . Find their distance apart and the bearing of A from B after 2 hours.

Example C5
Car A starts traveling from a point O at 80 km/hr in direction of 055° . At the same time, car B
starts traveling from O at 60 km/hr in the direction of 325° . What is the distance between A and B
after 2 hours?

Notes ~10~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Example C6
A car travels N 50° E for 120 km and then S 40° E for 45 km.
(a) What is its distance from the starting point?
(b) What is its compass bearing from the starting point?

Example C7
A restaurant is 25 km and N 38° E from A while a bookstore is 32 km and S 64° E from A.
(a) What is the distance between the bookstore and the restaurant?
(b) What is the compass bearing and true bearing of the bookstore from the restaurant?
(c) What is the compass and true bearing of the restaurant from the bookstore?

km
N
25

38 O

A
O
64
32
km

Notes ~11~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Student Practice 1:

1.
In the figure, find the bearing of P from Q in
(a) compass bearing;
(b) true bearing.

2. Tom walks 60 m due east and then 80 m due south. Find, from the starting point,
(a) his compass bearing; (b) his distance.

3. Sally walks from A to B in a direction of 230° .

(a) Find the compass bearing of B from A.
(b) If she walks back from B to A directly, what is her walking direction in true bearing?

4.

The compass bearings of A and B from O are N 35° E and S 55° E

respectively. If OA = 60 m and OB = 80 m, find the distance
between A and B.

5.

The compass bearing of A from O is N 50° E and the compass

bearing of B from O is N 30° W. If OA = OB = 100 m, find the
distance between A and B.

6.

A ship at A is 80 km due east of a lighthouse O. The ship is

streaming at 25 km/h to the North. After two hours, it reaches B.
Find the compass bearing of B from the lighthouse O.

7.

The true bearings of A and B from O are 030° and 120°

respectively. Suppose OA = 50 m and OB = 90 m.
(a) Find ∠ ABO.
(b) Find the true bearing of A from B.

Notes ~12~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Example C8
A car started at Town P and traveled 5 km on a bearing N 40°W to Town Q. It then travelled 12 km
on a bearing N 75° E to Town R. Find its distance and bearing from the starting point. Give
answers correct to 3 significant figures.

Solution:

Method 1: In ∆PQB, b = 5 cos 40°, x = 5 sin 40°.

In ∆QAR, a = 12 cos 75°, AR = 12 sin 75°.
In ∆PRC, y = AR − x = 12 sin 75° − 5 sin 40°
RC = a + b = 12 cos 75° + 5 cos 40°

PR = y 2 + RC 2

= ________________________

y
tan θ = , θ = _________
RC

∴ R is ____________ from P, and the distance is _________ km.

Method 2: ∠RQP = 180° − 75° − 40° = 65°

In ∆SQR,
h = 12 sin 65° (= 10.8757) ,
QS = 12 cos 65° (=5.0714)
In ∆SPR,
y = QS − 5 = 12 cos 65° − 5 (=0.0714) , h=
12 sin 65° (=10.8757) ,

x= y 2 + h 2 ≈ 10.8758 ≈ 10.9

h 12 sin 65°
tan α = = , α = 89.6°, θ = 180° − 40° − α = 50.4°
y 12 cos 65° − 5

Ans. R is N50.4°E from P; the distance is 10.9 km.

Notes ~13~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Example C9
A ship leaves a coast, which runs due east and west, from a port A and sails 20 km at 040° to a
port B. Then it sails 30 km at 300° to port C. Find a) by how far C is west of A , b) the shortest
distance from C to the coast of port A , c) the distance of AC , d) the bearing of C from A.

Example C10
A boy starting at A walks 2 km due North to B and then 5 km N 60° E
to C. Find
(a) the distance of C from A,
(b) the bearing of C from A.

Notes ~14~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Example C11
A boy walks 100 m on a true bearing of 064° and then 200 m on a true bearing of 025° . Find his
distance:
(a) north of the staring point,
(b) east of the staring point,
(c) from the staring point.

Example C12
At a town A, a man observes that the true bearing of a tower C is 130° . He travels 10 km along a
road running due south of town A to reach a town B where he observes that he true bearing of C
becomes 040° .
(a) Calculate the distance of C from B.
(b) If the man travels a further 5 km south along the same road to reach a third town X, find the
true bearing of C from X.

Example C13
Peter and John start walking in directions N12° E and N 81° E respectively from the same
position. Find their distance apart 3 hours if the speed of Peter and John are 3 km/h and 4.5 km/h
respectively.

Notes ~15~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Student Practice 2:

1. Ship A observes ship B 4 km away and bearing N 40° E. At the same time a
light-house is observed due north of A. If B is due east of the light-house, find
the distance between A and the light-house.

2. A boy walks 54 m on a course of 032° and then 20 m on a course of 075° . How

far is he east his starting point?

3. A plane flies on a bearing of 060° for 6 km and then changes course to a

bearing of 150° for 8 km. Find the distance and bearing of the plane from its
starting point.

4. A ship leaves a port on a course of N 70° E for 20 km and then steams S 20° E
for 30 km. Find the distance and bearing of the ship from the port.

5. Boy A is 18 m at N 60° E from an observer. Boy B is 8 2 m at S 45° E from the

observer. How far east is A away from B?

6. A boy walks at 5 km/h on a course of 045° for 6 hours. Then he walks at 135° for
another 8 hours. Find his bearing and distance from his starting position.

7. A boy on a boat sailing north observes two light-houses, which are 15 km apart,
in a line due west. After an hour's sailing, one light-house bears S 22° W and the
other bears S 50° W. Find the speed of the boat in m per sec.

8. At noon, a typhoon is at 250 km SE of Hong Kong. It is moving in direction

N 70° W at 25 km/h. When will it be nearest Hong Kong?

9. A boy walks at N 40° E and sees a church which bears N 15° E. In 50 minutes he
reaches a point which he knows to be N 70° E and 2 km from the church. Find
his speed in m/s and his distance from the church at the first observation.

10. There are two ways to go from home to school. One way is 350 m along a road
running N 50° W, then 1000 m along a road running N 40° E. The other goes due
east and then due north. Find which is longer and by how much. (corr. to
nearest m)

Notes ~16~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

D. Polygons

Example D1
Find the areas of the following figures.

Example D2
Find the area of a regular octagon with side 8 cm long.

Example D3
Find the value of θ in the figure.

Example D4
The figure shows a trapezium with AD = 10 cm, BC = 25 cm, AB = 10
cm, ∠ABC = 40° . Find ∠DCB .

Notes ~17~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Example D5
ABCD is a rectangle with sides 20 cm by 30 cm and AB makes an angle of
30° with the horizontal. Find the vertical distance from C to the
horizontal.

Example D6
In the figure, PB = 50 cm, ∠ABC = 50° ,
∠APC = 70° and AC ⊥ BC . Find the values
of h and y.

Notes ~18~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Student Practice 3:
1. In the figure, PM ⊥ QR. Find
(a) the length of PM,
(b) the length of QR,
(c) the area of ∆ PQR.

2. In the figure, XYW is a right-angled triangle.

Find ∠ XYZ to the nearest degree.

3. In the figure, ABCD is a parallelogram. Find its area.

4. In the figure, PQRS is a trapezium. Find

(a) The lengths of QE and RS,
(b) The area pf the trapezium.

5. In the figure, ABCD is a square. Find ∠ AEB.

6. The diagonals of a rhombus are of lengths 30 cm and 16 cm. Find

(a) The length of each side,
(b) The angles of the rhombus to the nearest degree.

7. In ∆ PQR, PQ = 10 cm, ∠ PQR = 60° and ∠ PRQ = 40° .

Find the length of PR.

8. A rectangular table is placed in a corner of a room as shown

in the figure. Find the perpendicular distance of A from
each wall.

Notes ~19~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

E. Miscellaneous

Example E1
A sphere of radius 10 cm rests inside a conical vessel whole axis is vertical.
If the highest point of the sphere is 30 cm above the vertex of the cone, find
the angle of the cone.

Example E2
In the figure, PQ, 8 cm long, is the chord of a circle, center O. If ∠BAC = 58° , radius = 6 cm, find
the length of AB.

Example E3
At noon, a typhoon is at 250 km SE of Hong Kong. It is moving in direction N 64°W at 80 km/h.
What will it be nearest Hong Kong?

Notes ~20~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Example E4
A is north of B; P is east of A and bears N 42°25' E from B. Q is east of B and bears S 68°40' E
from A. What is the bearing of P from Q?

Example E5
From half-way up a light-house the angle of depression of a boat is 19° . Find the angle of
depression from the house top.

Example E6
From a tower top, the elevation of an UFO is 38° and another elevation of the UFO is measured to
be 52° from the tower base at the same time. Find the height of the UFO if the tower is 24 m high.

Notes ~21~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

F. Further problems

Example F1
A rectangle rests on an inclined plane OA and a level ground OD. If AB = 3 cm, BC = 5 cm, OA = 2
cm. Find the height of B and C from the ground.

Example F2
It took a helicopter 2 minutes to fly from A to B horizontally at a height of 1000 m. From S, the
angles of elevation of A and B were 30° and 68° respectively. Calculate the speed of the
helicopter. ( Give the answer correct to the nearest km/h.)

Example F3
PQRS is a rectangle with PQ = 5 cm and PS = 8 cm. XY bisects
the diagonal QS and is perpendicular to QS. Find
(a) the length of XY,
(b) the area of the quadrilateral PQMX.

Notes ~22~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Example F4
In the figure, AB = AC = 30 cm. Find the lengths of
(a) BD,
(b) CD,
(c) the attitude from C.

Example F5
Two men, one on a cliff top and one at the cliff foot, a plane flying horizontally
right overhead. After 5 seconds, the depression of the two men from the plane are
14°23' and 20°16' . Find the speed of the plane of the plane in m/s if the cliff is
100 m.

Example F6
The angles of elevation of the top of building A from the top and foot of building B are 30° and
48° respectively. If the height of building B is 24 m, find the height of building A.

Notes ~23~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Example F7
Two boys are on different sides of a wall of 16 m high. The angles of elevation of the top of the wall
from the boys are 45° and 55° respectively. If their eye levels are both 1 m above the ground, find
the distance between the boys.

Example F8
From a point A on the foot of a mountain, the elevation of its summits is 51° . After walking 200 m
up a slope of inclination 18° to a point B, the elevation of the summit is found to be 60° . Let the
height of the hill be h m.
(a) Find the vertical distance between B and the summit in
terms of h.
(b) Find the horizontal distance between B and the summit in
terms of h.
(c) Find the height of the hill to 3 significant figures.

Notes ~24~
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Exercises
Ex 1 Gradient
1. A man has risen 250 m after having 750 m up a slope. Find the gradient.
2. A boy runs 800 m up along a straight road of gradient 0.125. Find the height he has risen.
3. A boy flying a kite 100 m high with a string of 150 m long. Find the gradient of the string.
4. A cable car rises a slope of 15 o up a mountain 300 m high. Find the gradient and length of the
cable.
5. A plane climbs steadily at 20 o to the horizontal. Find its height above the runway after flying
for 9 km up.
6. A jet plane climbs steadily at 30 o to the horizontal with a speed of 400 km/h. Find its height
after 2 min.

7. The average inclination of a slope AB on a hillside is 20 o .

Find the height of the top if the horizontal distance of AB is
60m.

8. The average inclination of a slope on a hill 100 m high is 28 o . Find the average gradient of the
slope.
9. A glider flies for 800 m steadily down a cliff at inclination of 15 o . Find a) its vertical fall, b)
its horizontal run, c) the gradient of its gliding course.
10. A ladder is used to connect the top of two houses of 25 m and 33 m high. Find the gradient of
the ladder if the houses are 3.2 m apart.

11. Find the gradient of the line joining AB.

12. A hill path 600 m long is drawn on a map of scale 1:20000 by a line 2.4 cm. Find the average
gradient of the path.

13. The diagram shows a line AB crossing some contour lines.

The map scale is 1 cm to 1 km. If AB is 3 cm on the map,
find the average gradient of AB.

14. A car travels 200 m up a slope of inclination 15 o and then 150 m up a slope of inclination 22 o .
Find the rise of the car.
1 1
15. A man walks up a slope of gradient for 24 m and then up another slope of gradient
12 10
for further 30 m. Find the height of the man above his starting point.

Exercises Page 1
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Ex 2 Angles of elevation & depression

Ex 2A
Give answers correct to 3 significant figures unless otherwise stated.
1.

2. A flagstaff stands on horizontal ground. From a point on the ground at a distance of 120 m
from the flagstaff, the angle of elevation of its top is 30 o . Find the height of the flagstaff.

3. The angle of elevation of the top of a cliff from an observer on the level ground is 50 o . If the
cliff is 120 m high, find the distance of the observer from the foot of the cliff.

4. A man on the top of a lighthouse 75 m high observes that the angle of depression of a buoy is
36 o . Find the distance of the buoy from the lighthouse.

5. A boy whose eye level is 1.5 m above the ground finds that the angle of elevation of the top of
a tree is 25 o . If the boy is 50 m away from the tree, find the height of the tree.

6. From the top of a building 100 m high, the angles of

depression of the top and bottom of another building across
the street are 40 o and 65 o respectively (Fig. 1).
a) Find the width of the street.
b) Find the height of the other building.

7. A monument stands on the top of a hill. From a point 1200 m

away from the fill on level ground, the angles of elevation of the
tops of the hill and the monument are found to be 22 o and 25 o
respectively.
Find i) the height of the hill,
ii) the height of the monument.

Exercises Page 2
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

8. Two observers are on opposite sides of a tower 81 m high. The angles of elevation of the top of
the tower from them are 48° and 34° respectively. Find the distance between the two
observers.

9.
Two surveyors are on opposite sides of a church.
The angles of elevation of the top of the church
from them are 45 o and 30 o respectively. If they
are 100 m apart, find the height of the church.

10. From the top and foot of a building 50 m high, the angles
of elevation of the top of another building across the
street are respectively 70 o and 46 o .
Find i) the width of the street,
ii) the height of the other building.

11. In Fig. 5, AB represents a vertical building. B, P

and Q are points on level ground. The angles of
elevation of A from P and Q are 40 o and
25 o respectively. P and Q are 35m apart. Let AB =
h m.
(a) By considering ∆ ABP, express BP in terms
of h.
(b) By considering ∆ ABQ, express BQ in terms
of h.
(c) Hence find the height of AB and the length
of BP.

12. The angle of elevation of the top of a tower from a point on level ground is 20 o . On walking
100 m horizontally towards the tower, the angle of elevation is found to be θ ( θ > 20 o ).
(a) Find the height of the tower and the final distance from the tower if θ = 40 o .
(b) Find the height of the tower and the final distance from the tower if θ = 45 o .

Exercises Page 3
青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Ex 2B

1. From a point 40 m in front of a tree, the elevation of the tree top is 35 o . Find the height of the
tree.

2. The length of a shadow of a tree of 6 m tall is 2 m. What is the angle of elevation of the sun?

3. The angle of elevation of a cliff top from a boy is 52 o . If the cliff is 80 m high, find the
horizontal distance from the cliff to the boy.

4. A man on the cliff top 60 m high finds the angle of depression of a swimmer is 37 o . How far is
the swimmer from the cliff bottom?

5. A boy, walking 100 m away from a tower on a level ground, finds that the elevation of the
tower top to be 40 o . Find the height of the tower.

6. A boat is 200 m away from a light-house of 30 m high. Find the angle of depression of the boat
as seen from the top of the light-house.

7. 5 m away from a fence, a boy 1.2 m tall can just see the sun over
the fence 3 m high. Find the elevation of the sun.

8. A boy is 240 m away on a level ground from a tower 48 high.

Find the angle of depression of the boy as seen, from the tower
top.

9. From the mid-level of a building, the angle of depression of a

land mark 70 m from the foot of the building is 40 o . Find the
height of the building.

10. A boy, whose eye level is 1.2 m above the ground, finds that the
angle of elevation of a flag on the top of a pole is 27 o . If the boy
is 18 m from the pole, how high is the flag?

11. A pilot, flying a height of 600 m, finds that the depression of a

boat is 15 o . Find the distance between the plane and the boat.

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12. From a point 20 m high in front of a tower, the angle of elevation

of the tower top is 30 o and the angle of depression of the tower
base is 20 o . Find the height of the tower.

13. On the cliff top, 120 m high, a man finds the depression of two
boats, both due south, are 18 o and 24 o . Find the distance between
the boats.

14. From a point on the ground, a boy finds the elevation of the top of
a building 60 m high to be 42 o . Find the elevation of the top
again if the boy moves 15 m towards the building.

15.
From a boat 600 m in front of a cliff, the elevation of the cliff top
is 16 o . A light-house on the cliff top are found to have an
elevation of 24 o from the boat. Find the height of the light-house.

16. From the top and base of a building 30 m high, the angles of
elevation of the top of another building across the street are
40 o and 60 o respectively. Find a) the width of the street, b) the
height of the taller building.

17. From a tower top, the depression of the top and foot of a flag post are 30 o and 60 o respectively.
Find the height of the post of the tower is 30 m high.

18. From a point on a level ground, the angle of elevation of a cliff is 20 o . After walking 30 m
towards the cliff, the elevation is increased by 16 o . Find the height of the cliff.

19. Two observers, one due north and the other due south of a tower, find that angle of elevation of
the tower are 54 o and 32 o respectively. Find the height of the tower if the observers are 300 m
apart.

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20. From a point 20 m in front of a church, the angle of elevation of the church top is 20 o 40’. The
observer then moves back until the elevation is decreased by 10 o 16’. Find the distance moved.

21. Two boys, one due east and the other due west of a tall tree, find the angle of elevation of the
tree top are 23 o and 35 o respectively. Find the height of the tree if the boys are 50 m apart.

22.
From a tower top, the elevation of an UFO is 44 o and another
elevation of the UFO is measured to be 56 o from the tower
base at the same time. Find the height of the UFO if the tower
is 30 m high.

23. From half-way up a light-house the angle of depression of a boat is 25 o . Find the angle of
depression from the house top.

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青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Ex 3 Bearings

Ex 3A

Point Compass Bearing True Bearing

1. A
2. B
3. C
4. D

Change the following bearings.

Compass bearing True bearing True bearing Compass bearing
5. N25 E o
11. 009 o

6. N25 o W 12. 095 o

7. S35 o E 13. 127 o
8. S35 o W 14. 280 o
9. N48 o W 15. 315 o
10. S23 o E 16. 180 o

Change the following bearings.

Bearing of A from B Bearing of B from A Bearing of A from B Bearing of B from A
17. N30 Eo
21. 015 o

18. N61 o E 22. 140 o

19. S48 o E 23. 290 o
20. S80 o W 24. 310 o

25. Write down the bearing from O of each of points A, B and C in two
different ways.

26. State the compass bearings of C and D

a) from A,
b) from B.

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青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

27. State the true bearings of C and D

c) from A,
d) from B.

28. Write down the bearing from O of each of the points A, B

and C in compass and true bearing.

29. State the compass bearings of

a) A from B
b) B from C
c) C from D

30. State the compass bearings of

d) A from B
e) B from C
f) C from D

31. A boy walks from A to B in a direction of 210 o . What direction will he walk from B to A?

32. From A the bearing of B is N80 o E and the bearing of C is N50 o E. B and C are also equidistant
from A. What is the bearing of C from B?

33. A boy walks from A to B on a course of 134 o . What course will it take to go back A from B?

34. A man stands due South and then turns 98 o to his right. Find the direction that his back faces.

35. From O, the bearing of A is N55 o E and B is N80 o E where A and B are equidistant from O,
find the bearing of B from A.

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青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

Ex 3B
Whenever necessary, give the answers correct to 4 significant figures.

1. A man walks 2 km due east and then 3 km due south. Find his bearing from the starting point.
2. B is 10 km N60 o E of A and C is 10 km north of B. What is the bearing of C from A?
3. A man starts at a point O and walks 4 km N25 o E to A. He then turns to his right through 90 o
and walks 2 km to B. What is the bearing of B from O?
4. A man walks 6 km NE and then 8 km NW. What is the distance and bearing from the starting
point?
5. A and B start walking from a point O in the directions N17 o W and N73 o E respectively. If they
walk at 3 km/h and 4 km/h respectively, find
(a) their distance apart after two hours.
(b) the bearing of A from B at that time.

6.

At 10 a.m., a ship which is sailing S49 o E at the rate of 10 km/h

observes a fort at a bearing of N41 o E. At noon the bearing of
the fort is N15 o W, find the distance of the fort from the ship at
each observation.

7.

Two observation posts, A and B, on a straight coastline running

from west to east are 1.76 km apart. The bearing of a ship from
A is 062 o and from B is 341 o . Calculate the distance of the ship
from the shore.

8.

A ship leaves a port A and sails 6 km with a bearing of 040 o to a

port B. It then sails 8 km with a bearing of 310 o to a port C.
Find
(a) the distance between the ports A and C.
(b) the bearing of port C from port A.

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青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

9.

From a lighthouse L, the bearings of two ships. A and B, are

S45 o W and S15 o E respectively. At the same time, the bearing
of B from A is S45 o E. If LA is 4 km, find the distance between
the ships.

10.

On Thursday, a ship A sailing due south at a uniform speed of 5

km/h, passed another ship B at 2.00 p.m. If ship B was sailing
towards the east at a uniform speed of 12 km/h, find the distance
and bearing of A from B at 12 noon on the day before.

11.

A is north of B; P is east of A and bears N37 o 30’E from B. Q is

east of B and bears S72 o 20’E from A. What is the bearing of P
from Q?

12.
A ship leaves a harbour which runs due east and west from a
point A and sails 2 km on a bearing of 049 o to a point B. It then
sails 3 km on a bearing 307 o to a point C. Find
(a) by how much C is west of A.
(b) the shortest distance from C to the harbour.
(c) the bearing of C from A.
(d) the distance AC.

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Ex 4 Polygons

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19. Find the base angle of an isosceles triangle whose sides are 6 cm, 6 cm and 4 cm.

20. The vertical angle of an isosceles triangle with base 10 cm is 100 o . Find the length of its sides.

21. The diagonal of a rectangle makes 32 o with the longer side. Find the width of the rectangle if
its length is 10 cm.

22. The diagonals of a rhombus are 10 cm and 14 cm. Find the acute angles of the rhombus.

23. The length of a side of a rhombus is 6 cm and the length of a diagonal is 10 cm. Find the
length of the other diagonal and the acute angle of the rhombus.

24. The diagonals of a rhombus are 10 cm and 24 cm. Find the length of each side and its area.

25. Find the area of a regular hexagon of side 2 cm.

26. A chord 6 cm subtends an angle 120 o at the centre of a circle. Find the radius of the circle.

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Ex 5 Miscellaneous

Ex 5A

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Ex 5B

1.
Bobby ran up a hill with an inclination of 15 o . After 8
minutes, he reached a vertical height of 400 m.
(a) Find the actual distance that he ran in 8 minutes.
(b) Find his running speed in m/s.

2.
The figure shows the contour lines of a hill. The scale of the
map is 1:20000 and the length of AB is 5 cm on the map.
(a) Find the horizontal distance between A and B.
(b) What is the gradient of the road from A to B?

3.

The figure shows a contour map. The peak P is 450 m above

the sea level. The length of two roads AP and BP are 15 cm
and 10 cm respectively on the map.
(a) Find the scale of the map in 1 : n.
(b) Find the slope of AP and BP.
(c) Which road, AP or BP, is steeper?

4.

The angle of elevation of the top of a house from P is 30 o .

When a boy walks 100 m from P straight towards the house,
the angle of elevation becomes 45 o . Find the height of the
house.

5.

AB and PQ are two buildings with heights 50 m and h

respectively. The angle of depression of P from A is 25 o and
the angle of elevation of P from B is 40 o . Find the value of
h.

6.

In the figure, a balloon is at a point A. Dick is on the

horizontal ground at O. The angle of elevation of A from O
is 28 o . Later, the balloon rises 35 m to B and the angle of
elevation of B from O is 40 o . Find the original height of the
balloon above the ground.

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青睞教育中心 Using trigonometry (F3M)

7.

The bearing of B from A is N22 o W and the bearing of C

from A is S68 o W. If A and B are 20 km apart, A and C are
30 km apart, find the compass bearing of B from C.

8. The bearing of B from A is N60 o E and the bearing of B from C is 120 o . The distances from A
to B and from B to C are both equal to 300 m.
(a) Find the compass bearing of C from A.
(b) What is the distance between A and C?

9. In the figure, the bearing of B from A is N55 o E and the

bearing of C from B is S35 o E. The distance between A and
B is 90 m and the distance between C and B is 130 m.
(a) Find ∠ABC .
(b) Find the distance between A and C.
(c) What is the compass bearing of C from A?
(d) If Cherry walks from A to C, what is her shortest distance
from B?

10. In the figure, P is a lighthouse. The true bearing of A from P

is 316 o and it is 34 km away from P. The true bearing of B
from P is 046 o and it is 50 km away from P. At noon, a ship
started to sail from A to B via P. It reached B at 15:30.
(a) Find the distance between A and B.
(b) Find the speed of the ship in km/h.
(c) After staying at B for one hour, the ship sailed from B to
A directly with the same speed as it went from A to B.
When did the ship reach A? (Give the answer correct to
the nearest minute.)

11. In the figure, ABCD is a square with sides 6 cm. If AP = 4

cm, find the value of θ .

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12. ABCD is a rhombus with sides 13 cm and BD = 10 cm.

Find
(a) AC;
(b) ∠ADB .

13. The figure shows a trapezium with AD = 10 cm, AB = 10

cm, DC = 12 cm and ∠ABC = 40° .
(a) Find ∠DCB
(b) Find the area of trapezium ABCD.

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