Applications of right triangles and trigonometry（直角三角形和三角函数的应用）.pdf

Applications of right triangles and trigonometry 1. A sailor at sea in the 18th century had no GPS or electronic navigational tools. The main tool used to determine the position of the ship was the sextant, which could measure the elevation above the horizon of celestial objects very accurately. Because the Earth is so large compared to the ship, assume the line of sight to the horizon is level (doesn’t slope down or up). A navigator in the Northern hemisphere could find the angle of the North Star (Polaris) above the horizon using his sextant. Suppose he read off an angle of x degrees. Here’s the situation: Horizon North North x Ship Equator Latitude Earth If you measure angle x with your sextant, what is the ship’s latitude (expressed as an angle above the equator)? This program is based upon collaborative work supported by a National Science Foundation Grant No. 0841259; Colorado State University, Thomas Chen, Principal Investigator, Michael A. de Miranda and Stuart Tobet Co-Principal Investigators. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. SOLUTION: (requires from geometry that interior angles are equal) We can form a right triangle with vertices at the center of the earth, the ship, and the point where the horizon line meets the earth’s North/South axis. x = = x