Description
Another name for a triangle is Trigon ( pronounced try-gone), and it is the most basic form of a polygon. As you know, a triangle is a three-sided figure, and in school, you would have learned some basic properties of a triangle, which we summarise below :
1) The sum of the angles of a triangle is 180 degrees.
2) In a triangle with a right angle, the square of the hypotenuse = the sum of the squares of the other two sides.
Here, we shall take this further, giving you an understanding of why trigonometry is important, and how it could be useful.
Say you were a General commanding an army that wanted to attack a fort.
The Height of the walls of the fort was O.
The archers who stood on the walls of the fort could shoot arrows for a distance A.
You wanted to calculate the length of a Ladder H that would allow your soldiers to reach the top but beyond the range of the Arrows at the bottom. Pythagoras theorem would give you the length of the ladder required if you knew it! Your soldiers would have a fighting chance of getting to the top with minimal losses!!