Mathematics is one of those topics/studies that most high school, middle school or college students are not interested in. And, it is understandable. Even the best mathematicians of this world understand why people hate this study. It is complicated, it can be very difficult to learn and you can easily forget everything you learned in a short amount of time. Sure, certain parts of math can be understood quite easily, but once you get into more difficult subjects such as trigonometry, things get very complex. But, no matter how complex it is, we have to accept that it is important in life.
Many topics of mathematics have everyday use in real life and that is especially true for trigonometry. Keep in mind, the uses of such math are not exactly very obvious. I am not talking about people writing complex formulas on whiteboards. I am talking about implementing and using our knowledge of mathematics to make our lives easier.
According to writezillas.com, a lot of things are built and made with the help of math and more complex technology is completely reliant on it. Even the simpler things such as building a house are where trigonometry is useful.
To raise some awareness on this topic, I decided to write this article and talk about the reasons why this part of math is so important in real life.
Contents
1. Construction
Source: Build Magazine
If you are looking for the most common use of trigonometry in real life, the answer is construction. Without proper knowledge on this topic, it would be impossible for engineers or architects to come up with a large and tall building that has proper structural integrity. Without the help of mathematics, the building would crumble even from the slightest wind.
Naturally, we want these buildings to last as long as possible and we want them to be a safe environment for everyone that lives or works in it. We cannot just build these large buildings without making sure that they will be as safe as possible.
The best way to ensure that safety is with the help of trigonometry. With it, they can ensure that the walls are truly parallel or perpendicular. They can also probably measure distances in certain fields or areas. It is also essential for building inclined roofs.
Architects also rely on this math topic to ensure that their drawings, sections, and floor plans are accurate and physically doable.
2. Flight engineers
Source: Air Force Reserve Command
In the past, especially during World War II, most larger aircraft had a position for a flight engineer. The pilot controls the airplane while the flight engineer tracks the speed, the distance, and the direction of the airplane. They also have to calculate different external elements such as wind, rain, snow, or any other element.
Basically, without the help of a flight engineer, the pilot is blind. Of course, these days, most modern aircraft have a built-in system that has the same role as a flight engineer. These systems provide all the needed information to the pilot.
But, both the flight engineers and these modern automatic systems implement trigonometry to steer the airplane in the right direction. All those outside elements, the speed of the wind, the speed of the plane all influence where it is going to be headed. With the right calculations, the pilot will know exactly at which speed and direction he or she should control the plane.
How do the flight engineers make these calculations? Well, with the information they have, and with the use of vectors they can create a triangle. One side of the triangle is the speed and direction of the plane while the other is the speed and direction of the wind. That third side of the triangle is the answer that the pilot needs to move the airplane toward the right direction at the right speed. With a little bit of math, the flight engineer can come up with a solution.
That is basically it. Trigonometry is a Greek word that helps measure or calculate the relationship between sides, angles, and lengths as suggested by trig identities.
3. It is useful for video games
Source: The Sarnia Journal
Believe it or not, but this math topic is also useful in the creation of video games. Creating a video game is not a simple as dragging and dropping or pointing and clicking. The entire process is much more complicated. That is why every video game development company has a team of computer programmers who are basically mathematicians. You cannot understand the logic of computer programming if you do not know math.
So, how exactly is trigonometry useful for video game development? Well, it is mostly used for creating the map or the world inside of the game. It also helps the character for the path of the world. It is how programmers and developers can smooth the movement of the character in that world.
4. Criminal investigation
Source: Wikipedia
Have you ever watched CSI or any other police/criminal investigation TV show or movie? If you have, you probably have seen one of those scenes where the “nerd” perfectly calculates the trajectory of the bullet. Well, that is entirely possible and it is often used in criminal investigations.
With the information available, the impact of the bullet, they can use trigonometry to track the trajectory of the bullet back to the original location. They can find where it was fired from.
5. Many other uses
Source: BBC.com
Keep in mind that these are some basic uses of trigonometry in the real world. But, if I were to mention every single reason why we need this kind of knowledge, I would probably end up writing an entire book.
Trigonometry is basically used everywhere around us. Factories, manufacturing processes, robots, machines, and all kinds of other devices. Even the autopilot feature that is installed on modern cars today such as Tesla utilizes trigonometry to follow the road and avoid collisions.
After reading through this article, I hope that you can now fully appreciate trigonometry. It is time for people to understand that mathematics is not that bad considering how much we needed.
