DUE DATE: 5TH DECEMBER, 2012

MATHS ASSESSMENT
DONE BY: AIGERIM AND SANNI
GRADE: 9YELLOW
SUBJECT: MATH
TEACHER: MS.LEONG

Assignment 1: Determining the height of a tower using a

stick
a) Read the description of the fieldwork above. Make the text simpler by
making shorter sentences. What belongs together? You may mark in the
text. Then write a modern, shorter version of this text.
Answer: Find the height of the tower AD without using any Angle
measurements. CB perpendicular to the ground at a point where one can
have a complete and good view of the tower. The sight of line DC to the
ground E. Then measure BE, AE and BC the height of the stick.
b) What is very uncomfortable when doing this fieldwork?
Answer: Its hard to find BE, AE and BC because they didnt give the
length of CE and DE. They have to measure all angles and find the best
measurement to build the building.
c)

Look at the figure Morgenstern used and make a sketch of it. Label all
vertices and measurements clearly

d) Why are the triangles AED and BEC similar?

Answer: Triangles AED and BEC are similar because they are right-angled
triangles, they share the same hypotenuse, and same angle.
e) About how long do you think a foot would be in centimetres or metres?
Answer: 1 foot = 12 inches
1 inch = 2.54 cm
Therefore, 12 x 2.54 = 1 foot (in cm)
1 foot is 30.48 cm.
1 cm = 0.01 m
30.48 cm = 0.3048 m
30.48 cm is equal to 0.3048 m.
Therefore, a foot is equal to 30.48 centimetres or 0.3048 meters.
f) Show with a calculation how Morgenstern got the answer for the height
of the tower.
Answer: 6\9 = x\150
X=?
6\9 X 150\x
X= 100feet

Assignment 2: Determining the Width of a River

a) Describe the fieldwork that the land measurer had to do in order to

create this picture. How did he find his points?
Answer: He first starts by making two points: I and K represented by
the two sticks, which are his starting points to calculate the rivers width.
He then makes a point parallel to the tree which is point D. He makes this
point so he can create triangles and calculate the river, by making similar
triangles here which are: DEF, ABF and CBE. Point A is parallel to point D,
I think he makes this point to create triangle ABF. Points C and E are
parallel to each other and connecting to points A and D respectively. He
made point B in such a way to create a small triangle, parallel to Point K. He
connected point K with points D and F to make a triangle similar to
triangle ABF.
b) Look at the figure Morgenstern used and made a sketch of it. Label all the
vertices and measurements clearly.
Answer:

c) Why are triangles DEF and CBE similar?

Answer: Triangles DEF and CBE have the same hypotenuse, same shape and
both triangles have a 90o angle. Both of these triangles are similar to each
other.
d) Show with a calculation the width of the river, using the measurements
below.
DE = 20, BC = 5, and CE = 8. These lengths are measured in roeden, where
one roede is 10 feet.
To calculate the width of the river, the land measurer uses the fact that
triangle DEF is similar to triangle CBE.
Answer: x/8 = 20/5
x=20/5 x 8
x=32 roeden.
The width of the river is 32 roeden = 320 feet (32 x 10).
e) The land measurer could also have used a different pair of similar triangles.
Which ones? (Explain why they are similar)
Answer: The other triangles the land measurer could have used are triangles
DEF and ABF. They are similar because they share the same line which is
FA.

Assignment 3: Using the Jacobs Staff

a) Read Ramus example and translate it into your own words.
Answer: Level stick should be 60 parts, the pointer should have 36 parts.
The length should be 120 feet. Rule should be 72 feet. The total height must
be 76 feet.

b) Look at the figure Ramus used and make a sketch in which you clearly
show all measurements. Which triangles are similar and why?

The similar triangles are the one with the pointer stick and one with
the height of the building Ramus is trying to measure. They are similar
because they share the same hypotenuse, have a 90o angle and are
similar to each other.
C) Show that the calculated height should indeed come out to 72 feet.
Answer: Stick level- 120 feet
The pointer- 36 units
Hence 60x2=120
Height of the building- 36x2=72 feet

D) What is the height of the whole building?

Answer: The buildings height is 72 feet measured from eye level. The buildings
total height is 76 feet (72+4=76)
e) Ramus writes about a 9th theorem and a Golden Rule in his explanation.
What do you think this theorem is? And what mathematical method do
you think the Golden Rule refers to?
Answer: Golden Rule related to the two quantities that are in the golden
ratio. The ration of the larger quantity should be equal to the smaller
quantity.

Assignment 4: Using a Mirror

a) Which other angles are equal in your picture?
Answer: Angle CDE and angle EDF are equal in the picture. Angles ABC
and EDF are equal too.
b) Which similar triangles can you see to calculate the height of the
tower?
Say that DE = 6, CD = 8 and BC = 136, all measurements in feet.
Answer: I can see triangles ABC and CDE to calculate the height of the
tower.
c) Look at the figure Cardinael used and make a sketch in which you
clearly show all vertices and measurements.
Answer:

d) Calculate the height of the tower.

Answer: DE = 6, CD = 8 and BC = 136
AB/6 = 136/8
AB = 136/8 x 6
AB = 102 feet.
The height of the tower is 102 feet.

Assignment 5: Determining the Distance from a Tower

a) Say that CI = 66 parts, CE = 100 parts and AC = 20 feet. Copy the
sketch of the situation and label all vertices and measurements clearly.
Answer:

b) Show why triangle ICE is similar to triangle CAB. Be give your reason
to each step.
Answer: The right angle in triangle ICE is point C. When the triangle is
turned and then flipped, they both give the same shape but different
sizes. Therefore, both the triangles have right angles, and they are
enlargement/ reduction of each other.

c) Use these measurements to calculate the length AB.

Answer: AB/66 2/3 = 20/100
AB = 20/100 x 66 2/3
AB = 13.33333333

Assignment 6: Practical Work

From assignment 1-5, we learnt many old methods to calculate the height of
buildings and towers, and width of a river. We decided to calculate the height
of the living room wall, and try to come up with our own method. We used
our own method by using rulers, pencil and measuring tape to calculate the
height of the wall in the living room.
One of us was standing as the similar line as the wall while the other
partner used the pencil to calculate the height.
We used this method, which we created which is similar to the first method.
First, the height of one of the person has to be taken and noted down, in
our case it was 160 cm, the length of the pencil has to be noted too, which
was 12 cm in our case. Then, the person whose height was taken, has to send
a couple of steps away from the wall to form another triangle which can be
more defined when drawing a sketch.
After the persons position is fixed, the partner has to take as many steps
as they can until the person fits at the length of the pencil. After that you
flip the pencil until it reaches the end of the building/ wall/ tower which you
are calculating the height of.
We had flipped the pencil around 1 and half times, so we multiplied 160cm by 1.5
(the number of times we flipped the pencil) and we got the answer of 240 cm
which is equal to 2.4 meters. After calculating that we calculated the height
of the wall with a measuring tape and we got 8 feet. 8 feet is equal to 243
cm which is equal to 2.43 meters. From this conclusion, we found out that
our method was correct.
Calculations
Height of wall = x cm.
Height of person = 160 cm.

Length of Pencil = 12 cm.

Number of times pencil flipped = 1 and half.
12 cm = 160 cm (in this case).
Therefore, 160 x 1.5 = x cm
Therefore, the height of the wall is 243 cm.