Carter 1

Caitlin Carter

Mr. Fisher

MAT-1010

May 8th, 2017

Mathematics Capstone

For my mathematics capstone, I have chosen problem number four: From where youre

standing you measure the angle of ascension to the peak of a mountain to be 30 degrees. The

same peak when viewed from 1000 feet further away is 27.8 degrees. How tall is the mountain?

To begin, I drew the mountain and the initial angles. The first angle is in red, while the angle
 Carter 2

1,000 feet away is in blue. I then input the known measurements.

The next step in this process for me was to label all other known measurements. Triangle

a-b-c was only missing one angle measurement which I got from the equation a + b + c =

180. Therefore, 30 + 90 + c = 180; 120 + c = 180; then c = 60. Lines b and b come

together on a straight line. The rule is that that two angles on a straight line equal 180. So,
 Carter 3

taking the known 30 and subtracting that from 180, leaves us with 150. Using the same

equation to find the last angle, 180 - 150 - 27.8 = 2.2.

The initial triangles measurements are labled a, b, and c. All three values are unknown. The next

triangle use the same line a, and already has a measurement for what would be b. The only

leftover unknown is labeled c.

Now that all the information and place holders have been drawn, it is time to figure out

the mountains height. This is represented by the line a. Since neither line b nor c have a value,

we cannot use Pythagorean Theorem just yet. We need to find the value of b or c first. I have

chosen c.

Looking at triangle c-b-c, one can use the law of sines to determine the width of line c.

sin ( 2 .2 ) sin ( 150 )

Simply set up the equation as such: = . You simplify it down to
1000 c'
 Carter 4

c ' sin ( 2 .2 )=1000 sin ( 150 ) by cross multiplying. Simplify it even further to

1000 sin ( 150 )

c'= by dividing both sides by sin(2). Then you solve, and get that the line c is
sin ( 2.2 )

equal to 13,024.97 feet.

 Carter 5

a
Using line c and the angle value of 27.8, we can use the equation cosA= c to find

13,024.97

the length of side a. So, a ; a = 13,024.97cos(27.8); a = 11,521.6. The height of the
cos ( 27.8 ) =

mountain is 11,521.6 feet.

Carter 6