MA.912.T.1.8

Solve mathematical and real-world problems involving one-variable trigonometric ratios.
General Information
Subject Area: Mathematics (B.E.S.T.)
Grade: 912
Strand: Trigonometry
Status: State Board Approved

Related Courses

This benchmark is part of these courses.
1202340: Precalculus Honors (Specifically in versions: 2014 - 2015, 2015 - 2022, 2022 and beyond (current))

Related Access Points

Alternate version of this benchmark for students with significant cognitive disabilities.

Related Resources

Vetted resources educators can use to teach the concepts and skills in this benchmark.

Formative Assessments

Washington Monument:

Students are asked to find the angle of elevation in a real world situation modeled by a right triangle.

Type: Formative Assessment

Step Up:

Students are asked to explain the relationship among angles in a diagram involving a right triangle and to find one angle of the right triangle.

Type: Formative Assessment

River Width:

Students are asked to find an unknown length in a real world context requiring right triangle trigonometry.

Type: Formative Assessment

Perilous Plunge:

Students are asked to find an unknown length in a real world context requiring right triangle trigonometry.

Type: Formative Assessment

Lighthouse Keeper:

Students are asked to find the difference between two lengths in a real world context requiring right triangle trigonometry.

Type: Formative Assessment

Lesson Plans

Deriving and Applying the Law of Sines:

Students will be introduced to a derivation of the Law of Sines and apply the Law of Sines to solve triangles.

Type: Lesson Plan

The Seven Circles Water Fountain:

Students will apply concepts related to circles, angles, area, and circumference to a design situation.

Type: Lesson Plan

Sine and Cosine Relationship between Complementary Angles:

This is a lesson on the relationship between the Sine and Cosine values of Complementary Angles.

Type: Lesson Plan

Discovering Trigonometric Ratios:

Students investigate and discover trigonometric ratios by drawing and measuring side lengths for five triangles that have equivalent angle measure. Students collect, analyze, and discuss data to draw conclusions. This is the introductory lesson to facilitate student discovery of trigonometric ratios and allows students to secure a solid foundation before the use of trigonometry to find missing sides. This lesson has students solving application problems by finding an unknown angle based on length measurements.

Type: Lesson Plan

The Copernicus' Travel:

This lesson uses Inverse Trigonometric Ratios to find acute angle measures in right triangles. Students will analyze the given information and determine the best method to use when solving right triangles. The choices reviewed are Trigonometric Ratios, The Pythagorean Theorem, and Special Right Triangles.

Type: Lesson Plan

The Trig Song:

This lesson is a group project activity designed to reinforce the concepts of sine and cosine. The lesson begins with a spiral review of the concepts, which will move into the group project - writing an original song to demonstrate understanding and application of sine and cosine ratios.

Type: Lesson Plan

How Tall am I?:

Students will determine the height of tall objects using three different calculation methods. They will work in groups to gather their data and perform calculations. A whole-class discussion is conducted at the end to compare results and discuss some of the possible errors.

Type: Lesson Plan

Are You Pulling My Trig?:

This lesson is an introduction of the application of trigonometric ratios. Students will solve real-world word problems using trigonometric ratios of sine, cosine and tangent.

Type: Lesson Plan

Let's Get "Triggy":

This lesson helps students discover trigonometric ratios and how to apply them to find the measure of sides and angles of a right triangle.  Students will think about problems, discuss concepts with a partner and then share ideas with the class. Students will collaborate and offer supportive coaching to help deepen each other’s understanding.

Type: Lesson Plan

Survey Says... We're Using TRIG!:

This lesson is meant as a review after being taught basic trigonometric functions. It will allow students to see and solve problems from a real-world setting. The Perspectives video presents math being used in the real-world as a multimedia enhancement to this lesson. Students will find this review lesson interesting and fun.

Type: Lesson Plan

Problem-Solving Tasks

Coins in a circular pattern:

Using a chart of diameters of different denominations of coins, students are asked to figure out how many coins fit around a central coin. (For this task, United States coins are used, but the task can be adapted for coins from other countries.)

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Finding the area of an equilateral triangle:

This problem solving task asks students to find the area of an equilateral triangle. Various solutions are presented that include the Pythagoren theorem and trigonometric functions.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

The Lighthouse Problem:

This problem asks students to model phenomena on the surface of the earth by examining the visibility of the lamp in a lighthouse from a boat.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Seven Circles III:

This provides an opportunity to model a concrete situation with mathematics. Once a representative picture of the situation described in the problem is drawn (the teacher may provide guidance here as necessary), the solution of the task requires an understanding of the definition of the sine function.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Setting Up Sprinklers:

This modeling task involves several different types of geometric knowledge and problem-solving: finding areas of sectors of circles, using trigonometric ratios to solve right triangles, and decomposing a complicated figure involving multiple circular arcs into parts whose areas can be found.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

MFAS Formative Assessments

Lighthouse Keeper:

Students are asked to find the difference between two lengths in a real world context requiring right triangle trigonometry.

Perilous Plunge:

Students are asked to find an unknown length in a real world context requiring right triangle trigonometry.

River Width:

Students are asked to find an unknown length in a real world context requiring right triangle trigonometry.

Step Up:

Students are asked to explain the relationship among angles in a diagram involving a right triangle and to find one angle of the right triangle.

Washington Monument:

Students are asked to find the angle of elevation in a real world situation modeled by a right triangle.

Student Resources

Vetted resources students can use to learn the concepts and skills in this benchmark.

Problem-Solving Tasks

Coins in a circular pattern:

Using a chart of diameters of different denominations of coins, students are asked to figure out how many coins fit around a central coin. (For this task, United States coins are used, but the task can be adapted for coins from other countries.)

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Finding the area of an equilateral triangle:

This problem solving task asks students to find the area of an equilateral triangle. Various solutions are presented that include the Pythagoren theorem and trigonometric functions.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

The Lighthouse Problem:

This problem asks students to model phenomena on the surface of the earth by examining the visibility of the lamp in a lighthouse from a boat.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Setting Up Sprinklers:

This modeling task involves several different types of geometric knowledge and problem-solving: finding areas of sectors of circles, using trigonometric ratios to solve right triangles, and decomposing a complicated figure involving multiple circular arcs into parts whose areas can be found.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Parent Resources

Vetted resources caregivers can use to help students learn the concepts and skills in this benchmark.

Problem-Solving Tasks

Coins in a circular pattern:

Using a chart of diameters of different denominations of coins, students are asked to figure out how many coins fit around a central coin. (For this task, United States coins are used, but the task can be adapted for coins from other countries.)

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Finding the area of an equilateral triangle:

This problem solving task asks students to find the area of an equilateral triangle. Various solutions are presented that include the Pythagoren theorem and trigonometric functions.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

The Lighthouse Problem:

This problem asks students to model phenomena on the surface of the earth by examining the visibility of the lamp in a lighthouse from a boat.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Setting Up Sprinklers:

This modeling task involves several different types of geometric knowledge and problem-solving: finding areas of sectors of circles, using trigonometric ratios to solve right triangles, and decomposing a complicated figure involving multiple circular arcs into parts whose areas can be found.

Type: Problem-Solving Task