HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

Right-angled triangles

Example
Find the length of the unknown side x in the triangle shown. Answer correct
to two decimal places.

Example
A vertical tent pole is supported by a rope tied to the top of
the pole and to a peg on the ground. The rope is 3m in
length and makes an angle of 29 to the horizontal. What is
the height of the tent pole? Answer correct to two decimal
places.

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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

Question 1
Find the length of the unknown side x in each triangle, correct to two decimal places

Question 2
Find the unknown angle in each triangle. Answer correct to the nearest minute

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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

Question 3
Find the length of the unknown side x in each triangle, correct to two decimal places

Question 4
Find the unknown angle in each triangle. Answer correct to the nearest degree

Question 5
Jack measures the angle of elevation to the top of a tree from a point on
level ground as 35. What is the height of the tree if Jack is 50m from the
base of the tree? Answer to the nearest metre.

Question 6
A 3m ladder has its foot 1.5m out from the base of the wall. What angle does
the ladder make with the ground? Answer correct to the nearest degree.

Bearings
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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

There are two types of bearings:

1) Compass bearings
2) True bearings

Compass Bearings
Example
A boat leaves Sydney and travels 420 km on a bearing of N37E. How far
did the boat travel due north, to the nearest kilometre?

True Bearings
Example
Joel walks north for 3.2 km and then west for 4.4 km. What is his true bearing from his starting point,
to the degree?

Question 1

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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

Aaron runs a distance of 7.2 km in the SE direction. How far east has Aaron
run? Answer correct to one decimal place.

Question 2
A plane is travelling on a bearing of 030 from A to B.
a) What is the compass bearing of A to B?
b) What is the true bearing of B to A?
c) What is the compass bearing of B to A?

Question 3
The diagram shows the position of P, Q and R relative to S. In the diagram, R
is NE of S, Q is NW of S and PSR is 155.
a) What is the true bearing of R from S?
b) What is the true bearing of Q from S?
c) What is the true bearing of P from S?

Question 4
The bearing of E from D is N38E, F is east of D and DEF is 87
a) Find the values of x and y
b) What is the compass bearing of E from F?
c) What is the true bearing of E from F?

Question 5
Mia cycled for 15 km west and then 24 km south
a) What is the value of to the nearest degree?
b) What is Mias true bearing from her starting point?
c) What is Mias compass bearing from her starting point?

Question 6
A boat sails 137 k from Port Stephens on a bearing on 065T
a) How far east has the boat sailed? Answer correct to one decimal place
b) How far north has the boat sailed? Answer correct to one decimal place
Question 7
A ship sails 5 kilometres west, then 5 kilometres south
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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

a) What is the compass bearing of the ship from its original position?
b) What is the true bearing of the ship from its original position?

Question 8
Harry travelled for 8.5 km on a bearing of S30W from his home
a) How far west is Harry from home? Answer correct to two decimal places
b) How far south if Harry from home? Answer correct to two decimal places
c) What is the compass bearing of his home from his current position?

Question 9
A plane left from O and travelled 350 km in the direction
225T to reach P. It then changed direction and travelled due
north for 500 km to reach point N
a) What was the distance from P to M? (Answer
correct to two decimal places)
b) What was the distance from M to O? (Answer
correct to two decimal places)
c) What was the distance from M to N? (Answer
correct to two decimal places)
d) What is the angle , correct to the nearest degree?
e) What is the true bearing of N from O?

[Trigonometry with obtuse angles]

The Sine Rule

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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

Example
Find the value of x correct to one decimal place

Example
Hannah is standing 4.5m from the base of a 3m sloping wall.
The angle of elevation to the top of the wall is 36. Find the
angle at the top of the wall, to the nearest minute.

Question 1
Find the length of the unknown side x in each triangle, correct to two decimal places

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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

Question 2
Find the length of the unknown side x in each triangle, correct to two decimal places

Question 3
Benjamin is planning to build a triangular garden for his daughter. The vertices of the triangle are
named PQR. He measured PQ as 2.7m, OR as 3.1 m and PRQ as 57. Use the sine rule to
find the size of RPQ, correct to the nearest degree.

Question 4
Triangle ABC has ABC = 71, BCA = 69 and CAB = 40. The length of AB is 10
a) What is the value of a, correct to one decimal place?
b) What is the value of b, correct to one decimal place?

Question 5
Refer to the picture on the right. Use the sine rule to:

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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

a) Find the size of angle XYZ. Give your answer to the

nearest degree
b) Find the size of y. Give your answer to the nearest
centimetre

Question 6
Sienna was located at X and saw a fire in the direction
N15E. Seven kilometres to the east of X at Z, Dylan
saw the fire in the direction N50W
a) How far is X from the fire? Answer in
kilometres correct to one decimal place
b) How far is Z from the fire? Answer in
kilometres correct to one decimal place

Question 7
Chelsea is travelling due east from A to B. Unfortunately,
the road is blocked and she makes a detour by traveling
from A to C a distance of 30 km, on a bearing of 040.
Chelsea then turns and travels south-east until she
reaches B.
a) What are the sizes of CAB and CBA?
b) How far did Chelsea travel from C to B?
Answer correct to the nearest
kilometre
c) What was the extra distance travelled
on the detour? Answer correct to the nearest kilometre

Area of a triangle

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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

Example
Find the area of the triangle to the nearest square centimetre

Question 1
In triangle ABC, side a is 36 cm, side b is 48cm and angle C is 68. Find the area of the triangle.
Answer correct to two decimal places

Question 2
In the triangle XYZ, side x is 4m, side y is 7m and angle Z is 34. Find the area of the triangle.
Answer correct to two decimal places

Question 3
A parallelogram has sides of length 7cm and 5.2 cm, and the included angle of 130. Calculate its
area, correct to one decimal place.

Question 4
A kite has adjacent sides of length 4cm and 7cm. The longer diagonal makes angles of 45 and 23.8
with the sides of the kite. Find the area if the kite.

Question 5
Find the area of each triangle, correct to one decimal place

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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

Question 6
In triangle DEF, the length of DF is 21cm, EF is 28cm, FDE is 64
and DEF is 43. Find the area of triangle DEF to the
nearest square centimetre

Question 7
A parallelogram PQRS has PS = 4cm, SR = 5cm and
PSR = 40
a) What is the area of triangle PRS? Answer correct to one
decimal place
b) What is the area of the parallelogram? Answer correct to one
decimal place

Question 8
A drawing of a farmers property is shown below
a) What is the area of triangle WXZ?
b) What is the area of triangle XYZ?
c) Find the total area of the property in square kilometres.

The Cosine Rule

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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

Example
Find the value of x correct to two decimal places

Example
Find the value of the angle . Answer in degrees, correct to one decimal place

Question 1
DEF is a triangle for which DF = 37cm, EF = 46cm and DFE = 44. Use the cosine rule to
find the length of DE, to the nearest millimetre.
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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

Question 2
A triangle RST has RST = 51, STR = 63, RT = 40 and
RS = 48
a) What is the size of TRS?
b) Find the length of x using the cosine rule. Answer
correct to three significant figures

Question 3
Ruby drives a four-wheel drive along a track from point A due west to a
point B, a distance of 14 km. She then turns and travels 19 km to point C.
Use the cosine rule to calculate the distance Ruby is from her starting
point. Answer correct to one decimal place.

Question 4
Passengers in a car travelling east, along a road that runs west-east, see a castle 10km away in the
direction N65E. When they have travelled a further 4 km east along the road, what will be the
distance to the castle? Answer correct to two decimal places?

Question 5
A stepladder has legs of length 120cm and the angle between them is 15. Calculate the distance (to
the nearest centimetre) between the legs on the ground.

Question 6
A triangle has sides measuring 4m, 5m and 7m.
a) What is the size of the smallest angle in this triangle?
b) What is the size of the largest angle in this triangle?

Question 7
A running circuit is in the shape of a triangle with lengths of 6 km, 6.5 km and 7 km. What are the
sizes of the angles (in minutes) between each of the sides?
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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

Question 8
The lengths of the sides of triangle ABC are in the ratio 7: 8: 9. Find the size of each angle, correct to
the nearest minute.

Mixed questions
Question 1
The dimensions of a block of land are shown opposite
a) What is the length of x, correct to the nearest metre?
b) What is the length of y, correct to the nearest metre?

Question 2
Madison measures the angle of elevation to the top of a wall as
32. She walks 10m horizontally towards the wall and measures
the angle of elevation as 51. Find the height of the wall.

Question 3
The bearing of Y from X is 240 and the distance of Y from X is 20km.
a) What is the value of a?
b) If Z is 18km due north of X, calculate the distance of Y from Z,
correct to the nearest kilometre
c) What is the value of b to the nearest degree?

Question 4
Andrew plans to build a triangular flower bed in the lower part of a circular
garden. The length is TS is 24m, TSR is 45 and RTS is 40.
a) What is the size ofSRT?
b) Use the sine rule to find the length of TR. Answer correct to the
nearest metre.

Question 5

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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

The diagram shoes information about the locations of towns P, Q and

R. Amber takes 2 hours and 30 minutes to walk directly from Town P
to Town Q
a) What is Ambers walking speed, correct to the nearest km/h.
b) What is the distance from P to R? Answer correct to the
nearest kilometre
c) How long would it take Amber to walk from P to R? Answer
to nearest minute

Question 6
M is 50km north of O. The bearing of N from M is 108 and from O it is
061. Answer the following questions to the nearest kilometre
a) What is the distance between M and N?
b) What is the distance between N and O?

Question 7
The diagram shows five roads: DE, DG, EF, GE and GF. The bearing of FG is 304. ED is 292 and
DG is 040. The distance from E to F is 8lm and E is due west of F.
a) Find the size of GFE
b) What is the distance GE? Answer correct to one decimal
place
c) What is the size of DGE, GED and GDE? (Answer
to the nearest degree.)
d) What is the distance DE? Answer correct to one decimal
place
e) What is the distance DG? Answer correct to one decimal
place

Question 8
A survey of a park is shown in the diagram. A path is proposed from B to D
and a fence is required from B to C to D.
a) What is the length of the path? Answer correct to the nearest metre
b) Calculate the required length of fencing. Answer correct to the
nearest metre
c) What is the area of the park? Answer correct to the nearest square
metre.
Surveying
-

Offset survey
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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

Example
The field book entry and field diagram from an offset survey are shown opposite. Find the area of the
quadrilateral ABCD. Measurements are in metres. Answer correct to nearest metre.

Radial Survey

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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

Example
A plane-table radial survey is shown opposite. What is the
area of ABC? Answer correct to one decimal place.

Example
A compass radial survey for a field is shown opposite
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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

a) What is the size of POQ?

b) What is the size of POR?
c) Calculate the length of PQ correct to two decimal
places
d) Calculate the length of PR correct to two decimal
places
e) What is the perimeter of the field? Answer correct
to three significant figures.

Question 1
Find the area of the following fields. Units are metres
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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

Question 2
The diagram on the right shows a block of land that has been surveyed. All
measurements are in metres
a) Find the area of the quadrilateral ABCD. Answer correct to the
nearest square metre
b) What is the length of AB? Answer correct to the nearest metre
c) What is the length of AC? Answer correct to the nearest metre

Question 3
The field book entry on the right shoes a block of land that has been surveyed.
All measurements are in metres
a) Find the area of the block ABCDE. Answer correct to one decimal
place
b) What is the length of AC? Answer correct to the nearest metre
c) What is the length of CE? Answer correct to the nearest metre

Question 4

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HSC MATHEMATICS GENERAL 2

MEASUREMENT
MM5: APPLICATIONS OF TRIGONOMETRY

A radial survey of land DEFG is shown opposite

a) What is the size of FOG?
b) Find the area of the triangle FOG to the nearest
square metre
c) What is the length of FG correct to the nearest
metre?

Question 5
The diagram opposite is a compass radial survey of field
VWXYZ. All distances are in metres. Answer the
following questions correct to one decimal place
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)

What is the length of XY?

What is the length of ZY?
What is the length of VZ?
What is the length of VW?
What is the length of XW?
Calculate the perimeter of the field

Question 6
A radial survey of land ABCD is shown
a) What is the size of AOB?
b) What is the area of AOB? Answer correct to the nearest
square metre
c) What is the area of the land? Answer correct to the nearest
square metre

Question 7
Alex, Blake and Connor are standing in a field. Connor is 15 metres away from Blake (B) on a
bearing of 032. Alex (A) is 20 metres away from Blake on a bearing of 315.
a) Draw a diagram to represent the positions A, B and C. Mark the information from the
question on the diagram
b) What is the size of ABC to the nearest degree?
c) What is the area of ABC? Answer correct to the nearest square metre
d) How far is Alex from Connor? Answer correct to the nearest metre.

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