What are some real life scenarios where trigonometry is applied?

[01]

OK, here's the situation, for my first homework assignment for a new class I've got to write up a brief essay on how trigonometry is used in real life. Seeing as how I've not done anything even close to trig in quite some time, I'm clueless as to what it entails and was wondering if anyone could give me some examples of real life situations in which trig would be used.

 

[ziddy83]

well..a place where trig can be used in real life, is in structures, like bridges or something. Maybe to determine the force of a beam or anything. Same goes with buildings and all too.

 

[brewnog]

Simple things like working out the shortest distance between two points, working out whether your ladder is long enough to reach a gutter, that kind of thing. Have a look into surveying, that might give you some interesting leads.

 

[idontgetit]

IN NYC..in the wall street area, there is a certain # of stories that a building can go up, B4 there needs to be a tier..and its proportional to the width of the street, and to figure out how many stories you can go up before you go inwards, you need to form triangles and things. Hope you get what I am saying and it helps.

 

[Tide]

The Global Positioning System! Of course, the trig is invisible to end users but it's there.