Applying Trigonometry

to the Real World

Meghan Boudreau
Per C

Meteorology
The job I chose is meteorology. A meteorologist is a weatherman and is
the study of the atmosphere. They analyze weather forecasts and when
necessary alert the public about severe or dangerous weather
conditions. They study elements such as temperature, air pressure, or
water vapor and see how they change or react to one another over
time. This profession is very important because it helps show people
the dangers of specific weather change and how to react towards it.

Education
The education needed for meteorology is a 4 year bachelors of science
degree in Meteorology. In some cases, such as research or teaching
meteorology, a Masters of Science is required.
During the education of meteorology, students must take a number of
thermodynamics, weather prediction, physical meteorology,
instrumentation, physics, and math classes. These are all required in
order to receive a degree majoring in Meterology.

How is Trigonometry Used?

Trig is used in Meterology because they need to calculate specific
distances. Trig is used by calculating angles of objects or weather
patterns, and how far away they are from specific areas or the ground.
In addition, they use it to calculate how far a specific object moves from
one place to another, calculating the pattern in which it moves.

Problems?
Meteorologists use trig to solve problems such as temperature change
and weather patterns. They use sine and cosine to show how specific
patterns can occur within weather. They also can use trig to solve where
specific objects are in relation to the ground or specific places.

Examples
1.A Meteorologist is using an angle measuring device to determine
the height of a weather balloon. She views the balloon through the
measuring device and measures an angle of elevation to the device
as 45 degrees. The radio signal from the balloon tells her that the
balloon is 1200 meters from her measuring device. How high is the
balloon if the meteorologist is 60 meters away from where she
originally let go of the balloon? Answer: 1198.5 m
a^2 + 60^2 = 1200^2
a^2 + 3600 = 1440000
a^2 = 1436400
a = 1198.5 m

Examples
1.A Meterologist is 15 ft from the weather tower. From the top of the
weather tower to the top of their head, it is 360 ft. If the angle of
elevation is 60 degrees, how high is the weather tower from the
ground? Answer: 359.7 ft
a^2 + 15^2 = 360^2
a^2 + 225 = 129600
a^2 = 129375
a = 359.7 ft

Examples
1.A Meterologist sees a storm approaching on her radar. The radar
says the storm is 300 ft from where her radar is placed, and is 1500
ft above the ground. If the angle of depression is 45 degrees, what
is the distance from the beginning of the storm to the radar?
Answer: 1624.8 ft
1500^2 + 300^2 = c^2
2550000 + 90000 = c^2
2640000 = c^2
c = 1624.8 ft

Challenges
The challenges I faced with this project was figuring out the correct
problems to do for the examples. While Meterology uses a lot of math, it
is mostly physics or calculus. I found it challenging to figure out how
meteorologists used trig at all in order to solve problems, but once I
figured it out it was very clear. The problems I made up were
challenging and I had to take time to make sure they were correct and
somewhat relevant to how meteorologists use trigonometry.