Angle of Elevation Angle of Depression F5

SAMPLE LESSON: MATHEMATICS
Class: Form 5
Title of Module: Plane Geometry Title of Chapter: Trigonometry
Title of Lesson: Angle of Elevation, Angle of Duration of Lesson: 50mins

Depression
MATHEMATICS LESSON
CLASS: Form 5; Duration: 50 minutes
TOPIC: Plane Geometry
Lesson: Trigonometry
Lesson Objectives: At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
- Translate a given situation into a Mathematical figure;
- Find angle of Elevation;
- Find angle of Depression;
-. Find length of a distance
Prerequisite knowledge: You can do the following:
- Use Pythagoras theorem to solve a right triangle;
- Use appropriate trigonometric ratio to find lengths of sides and measures of angles in a triangle
If not go back and revise these notions.
Motivation: Practical applications of trigonometry by Engineers, Surveyors, Pilot and Navigators
frequently involve measure of angles of elevation and depression based on the given situation.
Angles of elevation and depression are often used in trigonometry word problems.
Every time you look up at something in the sky, you are creating something called the Angle
of Elevation with your eyes and when you look down at something on the ground, you are
creating an angle called Angle of Depression.
Didactic Materials:
-Ruler, Pencil, calculator,
References:
1. GEOMETRY, Eugene D. Nicholas, Mervine L. Edwards, E Henry Garland, Sylvia, A Hoffman, Albert Mamary,
William F Palmer (1991), Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
2. https://www.mathsteacher.com.au/year10/ch15_trigonometry/12_elevation_depression/23elevdep.htm
3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bi tesize/guides/z98jtv4/revision/4
Introduction
As earlier mentioned in the motivation, surveyors, pilot, navigators etc. usually apply
trigonometric ratios to problems involving angles of elevation and depression as you will
see with some examples in this lesson.
Verification of Pre-Requisite Knowledge
1. Find the value of x, in cm as indicated in the figure below.
2. Find the measure of the angle indicated as xo in the figure below.

3. The length of the altitude to the base of an isosceles triangle is 16m. The measure
of a base angle is 55o. Find the length of the base of the triangle to the nearest
meter.
4. Find the length indicated as x on the diagram below.
Answers: 1) x = 24.0m; 2) xo = 54o; 3) The length of the base = 22.4m; 4) x = 21.4
NB: If you have any of them wrong, go back and revise the notions before you continue
the lesson.
Angle of Elevation Angle of Depression
Examples:
The height of the tree is BC. A man

standing at a distance AC from the see
will have to lift up his eyes to see the top
of the tree. The angle through which he
takes up his eyes, is the angle of
elevation
I- Angle of Elevation
If a person stands and looks up at an object, the angle of elevation is the angle between the
horizontal line of sight and line through which the person sees the object.
This can be represented by the figure:
II- Angle of Depression

If a person stands and looks down at an object, the angle of depression is the angle between the
horizontal line of sight and the line through which the person sees the object.
The diagram below summaries
In the diagram above, angle labelled 1 indicates the angles of elevation. It is the angle by
which the ground observer’s line of vision must be raised or elevated with respect to the
horizontal, to sight an object at B.
While the angle labelled 2 is the angle of depression. It is the angle by which an observer
at B’s line of vision must lowered or depressed, with respect to the horizontal to sight an
object at A.
Examples:
1. From the top of a vertical cliff 40 m high, the angle of depression of an object that
is level with the base of the cliff is 34º. How far is the object from the base of the
cliff?
Let x m be the distance of the object from the base of the cliff.
Angle of depression = 34o

̂ = 𝐵𝑂𝑃
But 𝐴𝑃𝑂 ̂ because they are alternate angles
̂ = 34𝑜
∴ 𝐴𝑃𝑂
40
From triangle APO, we have: 𝑡𝑎𝑛34𝑜 =
𝑥
40
∴ 𝑥𝑡𝑎𝑛340 = ×x ⟹ 0.6745𝑥 = 40 ∴ 𝑥 = 59.30
𝑥
2. You are on a trip through a desert. At a distance d, you can see mountains, and
quick measurement tells you that the angle between the mountain top and the
ground is 13.4o. You know that the highest point (the centre) of the mountain is
2500m high. How far away are you from the centre of the mountain?
𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒 2500 2500
tan 13.4o = = ⟹𝑑= ≅ 10494𝑚
𝑎𝑑𝑗𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑑 𝑡𝑎𝑛13.4 𝑜
III- Application Exercises to find distances and angles

1. A plane is flying over level ground at an altitude of 900m. When the pilot sights a
landing field, the measure of the angle of depression is 270.
a) Represent the above information on a diagram.
b) Find the distance, to the nearest meter, from the point on the ground directly
under the pilot to the landing field (Ground distance).
Solutions:
a. Let F be the field for landing.
let P be the point the pilot sights the landing field and G the point on the ground
directly under the pilot to the landing field.
b. The figure in a) is a right triangle. One of the trigonometric ratios can be used to
find the ground distance.
On the diagram the length of the ground distance FG is the side adjacent to angle
27o while the side PG with distance of 900m is the opposite side.
𝑃𝐺 900
tan 27 = = ⟹ 0.5095 = (Your calculator should give you Tan 270 = 0.5095 to
𝐺𝐹 𝐺𝐹
4decimal places)
∴ 𝐺𝐹 = 900 × 0.5095 = 1766.4𝑚

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 = 𝟏𝟕𝟔𝟔𝒎
2. A tree 50m high casts a 35m shadow.

Find, to the nearest degree, the measure of the angle of elevation of the sun.
Solution:
The situation can be represented by the

figure by the side.
From the figure, and using trigonometric

50
ratios, 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝐴 =
35
⟹ 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝐴 = 1.4285
⟹< 𝐴 = 𝑡𝑎𝑛−1 1.4285
∴
𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑛 ≅ 55𝑜
Points to remember
The angle of elevation of an object as seen by an observer is the angle between the
horizontal and the line from the object to the observer's eye (the line of sight).
The angle of elevation of the object from the observer is 𝛼
If the object is below the level of the observer, then the angle between the horizontal and
the observer's line of sight is called the angle of depression.
The angle of depression of the object from the observer is 𝛽.
Home work
Do the following, show all figures, if not given and all necessary steps in your
working.
1. A 20m ladder is leaning against a wall. The foot of the ladder forms an angle of 65o
with the ground.
Determine, to the nearest meter, how far, the top of the ladder is from the ground.
2. A navigator at a point A observes the measure of the angle of elevation to the top
of the cliff to be 15o. This measure changes to 26o at B as in the figure below. If the
height of the cliff is known to be 750m. Find how far the boat moved to get from
point A to point B.
3. A surveyor wants to measure the distances from points A and B to point C on the
opposite sides of a stream. Point C can be sighted from both A and B. she measured
AB and angles at A and B as indicated in the diagram. Find AC and BC to the nearest
metre.
4. You are standing 10 meters away from a tree. The angle of elevation from your eyes
to the top of the tree is 65o. Find how far away you are from the tree given that the
distance from your feet to your eyes is 1.6m tall.
GOOD LUCK IN YOUR STUDIES !!!

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SAMPLE LESSON: MATHEMATICS

Title of Module: Plane Geometry Title of Chapter: Trigonometry

Title of Lesson: Angle of Elevation, Angle of Duration of Lesson: 50mins

TOPIC: Plane Geometry

2. Find the measure of the angle indicated as xo in the figure below.

Answers: 1) x = 24.0m; 2) xo = 54o; 3) The length of the base = 22.4m; 4) x = 21.4

The height of the tree is BC. A man

This can be represented by the figure:

II- Angle of Depression

Angle of depression = 34o

III- Application Exercises to find distances and angles

∴ 𝐺𝐹 = 900 × 0.5095 = 1766.4𝑚

2. A tree 50m high casts a 35m shadow.

The situation can be represented by the

From the figure, and using trigonometric

The angle of elevation of the object from the observer is 𝛼

GOOD LUCK IN YOUR STUDIES !!!

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