Chapter 9
Applying Yourself to Trig Functions
IN THIS CHAPTER
Recognizing angles of elevation and depression
Determining heights of buildings
Calculating the slope of a hill
Measuring when objects are really high up
Dealing with odd shapes and distances
Back when trig functions were first developed or recognized — centuries ago — the motivation for creating the functions wasn’t so people could sit around and say, “Hey, Caesar, did you know that the sine of 45 degrees is 
?” Instead, the math gurus of the past worked out the principles of trigonometry because they needed some order or consistency to the numbers that they were applying to astronomy, agriculture, and architecture. They figured out the relationships among all these numbers and shared them with the rest of the known, civilized world.
First Things First: Elevating and Depressing
Mathematical problems that require the use ...
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