Thread: uses of trigonometry in daily life

hi friends
i am sahil juneja i have been working very hard to find some uses of trigno i searched on many sites but i was unsuccesful i just need your help please do help me i would be thankful to you from the bottom of my heart
thank you 8) 8)

is this hw?

Seems like homework to me, and you obviously haven't researched very well if you can't find any information upon the applications of trigonometry in every day life.

One cn go on and on when talking about trigo. In everyday life, but anyform of architecture involves trigonometry, including the very roof you are living under in.

The whole of physics and maths is based on trigo.
It can be used to measure height of a tower .
It is used in mechanics to understand motion of particles .
And much more.

Originally Posted by Shivansh

The whole of physics and maths is based on trigo.
It can be used to measure height of a tower .
It is used in mechanics to understand motion of particles .
And much more.

How Absurd

Originally Posted by didact

How Absurd

I wont say its entirely absurd. rather only the part that says 'the whole of physics and maths is based on trigo." is absurd.

Trig can be used in many places such as hiking. You come to a stream or river and you want to determine the distance across the river. You try to decide if a tree next to the river can be dropped to make an impromptu bridge. Trig can be used to determine the height of the tree. There are useful approximation methods that can be used to determine these quantities. These methods have been used since at least the time of Napoleon.

I work with cad drawings daily and trigonometry comes in handy.

Every mid size or larger production machine shop has a tool called a "sine bar", used in combination with "gage blocks" for high precision measuring and layout of angles. In some shops the tool will be used every day, by several people.

Since few machinists understand even basic trig the tool is employed by rote and experience, with even in modern times a frequent resort to printed tables of sines or other trig functions (although the calculator is making inroads in the hinterlands). But those machinists who can actually employ the trigonometric basis enjoy some advantages, often including higher pay.

Well the sat nav system uses trigonometry [ with corrections applied from general relativity which is wholly described in differential Calculus ]

I suggest you get a hold of a copy of Euclid's 'Elements' or Newton's 'Principia Mathmatica' - more trig than you can shake a log book at

Originally Posted by iceaura

Since few machinists understand even basic trig . . .

That may be true today since many "machinists" today are really no more than machine operators.

But those machinists who can actually employ the trigonometric basis enjoy some advantages, often including higher pay.

My father was a machinist and he taught me some introductory trig, algebra, and positive/negative numbers before I had Algebra I in seventh (or eight) grade.

BTW, every time I'm doing work around the house that entails making a large square or rectangular area, such as laying a concrete foundation for a shed, I use the Pythagorean Theorem: The 3/4/5 feet or 6/8/10 feet to make sure the layout is "square". Or for a perfect square, that the diagonals are equal. Very simple but precise.