The Great Trigonometrical Survey of North County
Introduction
This project helped cure the strongest of curiosities. My two partners, Rose Downey and Cristal Soto, and myself wondered what the distance was between the basketball hoops on campus. Finding the distance was not as simple as anticipated, mostly because the other basketball hoop was located behind a fence, one we could not simply "go around". Our interest in knowing the unknown was large, so how exactly did we calm our senses? We used trigonometry. Now for many years I've heard many say, "You won't ever use math in your future!", trigonometry challenges that phrase. This math concept is important because sometimes distances are immeasurable or straight up impossible to reach. Other skills you can gain from difficult trigonometry problems are, patience, perseverance and organization skills. I challenge others to step out of their comfort zone and take a shot at trig; it's not easy, but we learn from our mistakes and this could impact you in the long run!
Process
Our tools of measurements were, a protractor, and measuring tape and some string. This is where the basketball hoops were located,
Since one hoop was unreachable, we had to gather the distances we could measure,
After we found what we could I used the Law of Sines to find the two unknown side lengths. (Take photo of math)
Documentation
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Reflection
I think this project showed my class and I why math is important and how we can use it in our everyday life. My group and I all contributed and worked very well. At one point we made a mistake and no one panicked, we just started from the beginning before the mistake was made and solved the problem. What I found difficult was not overlapping the same projects with another group, there was another group measuring the same thing as my group and I. Also, I think the timeline for this project was VERY short. Yes, we knew what to do but to really grasp the concept I think we needed a couple more days and some more class work time. Since I already knew what steps I had to take to solve this problem I didn't use the conjecture and test habit. I know I did use the systematic habit very well and also the stay organized habit. Before this year I struggled to keep my work in order, but now it is not difficult at all! Being systematic helped me find my answers and staying organized helped me prove my answer was correct.