Trigonometry in Daily Life

Real Life Application of Trigonometry

Trigonometry simply means calculations with triangles (that’s where the tri comes from). It is a study of relationships in mathematics involving lengths, heights and angles of different triangles. The field emerged during the 3rd century BC, from applications of geometry to astronomical studies. Trigonometry spreads its applications into various fields such as architects, surveyors, astronauts, physicists, engineers and even crime scene investigators.

Now before going to the details of its applications, let’s answer a question have you ever wondered what field of science first used trigonometry?

The immediate answer expected would be mathematics but it doesn’t stop there even physics uses a lot of concepts of trigonometry. Another answer According to Morris Kline, in his book named- Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times, proclaimed that ‘trigonometry was first developed in connection with astronomy, with applications to navigation and construction of calendars. This was around 2000 years ago. Geometry is much older, and trigonometry is built upon geometry’. However, the origins of trigonometry can be traced to the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and India more than 4000 years ago.

Can trigonometry be used in everyday life?

Trigonometry may not have its direct applications in solving practical issues, but it is used in various things that we enjoy so much. For example music, as you know sound travels in waves and this pattern though not as regular as a sine or cosine function, is still useful in developing computer music. A computer cannot obviously listen to and comprehend music as we do, so computers represent it mathematically by its constituent sound waves. And this means sound engineers need to know at least the basics of trigonometry. And the good music that these sound engineers produce is used to calm us from our hectic, stress full life – All thanks to trigonometry.

Trigonometry can be used to measure the height of a building or mountains:

if you know the distance from where you observe the building and the angle of elevation you can easily find the height of the building. Similarly, if you have the value of one side and the angle of depression from the top of the building you can find and another side in the triangle, all you need to know is one side and angle of the triangle.