Trigonometry is perhaps one of the most widely used forms of mathematics in the fields

of construction and engineering. This is because in order for whatever is being built to be
functional and sturdy, precise math needs to be used to calculate exact values. If the
blueprints of a project are inaccurate, then the flaws in the design could lead to a
catastrophic failure later on, which is where trigonometry comes in. Trigonometry allows
us to calculate exact values for triangles with minimal information about them to start.
All shapes can be broken down into triangles, because they are the most basic polygon,
and so therefore, trigonometry can be used to figure out measurements for more than just
one type of shape. One particular field where trigonometry is widely used is that of
constructing houses. Some of the many applications of trigonometry in this field include
find the height of existing buildings with triangles, building trusses for roof support, and
finding the desired roof pitch for a house. Also, although it does not relate to
trigonometry directly, triangles are seen as the "strongest" shape, and are often used in
construction, because they have the least amount of sides and angles a polygon can have.

One very basic application of trigonometry in the construction business is finding the
height of existing buildings. This could be used in many different situations, like if a
surveyor wanted to find the height of a house so that other houses could be built near it
with the same height.

To do this, the surveyor could measure the distance from where they are standing to the
base of the structure they are looking for the height of. From that point, they could use
surveying tools to find the angle of elevation from where they are standing to the top of
the structure. By knowing these two measures, they could use the basic trigonometric
identities to find the height of the building. In this particular case, if the height of the
building was "x", the distance from the surveyor to the building was "l", and the angle of
elevation to the top of the building was "a", then the formula for the height of the
building would be "x=l*tan(a)". Since the tangent of a is "opposite/adjacent", and x is the
opposite side, you multiply both sides by the adjacent side value (l) to cancel it out on the
left side of the equation, allowing you to solve for x.

Another very basic use of trigonometry is the use of triangles in construction. Since
triangles are the simplest of polygons, they are the strongest. They have the least possible
number of sides and angles, which makes them very sturdy and rigid, and allows them to
hold a lot of weight. Since they only have three sides and angles, when they have weight
put on them, it is distributed very evenly throughout the shape. When constructing
houses, triangles are often used in foundations and roofs, to support some of the heavier
parts of the house and distribute weight to the stronger parts of the house.

Another highly used application of trigonometry in construction is in roof trusses.

Trusses are put in the attic of a house, underneath the roof, to support it and distribute the
weight to the stronger parts of the foundation. They are usually composed entirely of
triangles, because this allows them to be rigid and strong. Trusses such as the popular "W
Truss", "M Truss", and "Scissors Truss" normally have standardized angles in the
triangles they are composed of. For example, an M-Truss could be made out of two larger
(30-60-90) scalene triangles making up the sections in the middle on the bottom, two
smaller (30-60-90) scalene triangles making up the two parts on the outside on the
bottom, and two (60-60-60) equilateral triangles making up the top and middle section.
Knowing this, the width of the house, and the length of the roof, one can figure out, using
trigonometry, how long each board needs to be in order for the truss to fit together
correctly with the correct angles, so it has maximum stability. HowStuffWorks.com
summarizes the use and advantages of trusses well by saying: "You can span a large
distance with a truss and the truss transmits all of the weight to the exterior walls.
Therefore, none of the interior walls are "load-bearing," so they can go anywhere and are
easily moved later."

Lastly, trigonometry is used in constructing houses when figuring out roof pitch, and the
lengths of boards needed to cover the entire roof. Depending on what type of house is
being built, hundreds of different roof pitches can be used. The pitch determines how
steep of an angle the roof comes down at. Once the desired pitch is known for the roof,
the width and length of the house can be used in conjunction with the roof pitch angle to
find out how long of boards are needed to cover the entire area. There is also a minimum
roof pitch that houses must have in order to be able to drain rain, snow, leaves, and more
off. Builders must keep this in mind when finding roof pitch, because if a roof has too
low of a pitch, then additional drainage will need to be installed on top of the house to
deal with weather issues. Roof pitch is written in the same way slope is. When finding
roof pitch, it is written as a ratio of rise to run. An example, talking about a roof pitch of
7/12, taken from RoofGenius.com, is "So what does the 7/12 in the example ... mean?
The 7 means that the roof rises 7" for every 12" it runs." In other words, for every 12
inches the roof goes horizontally, it goes up 7 inches vertically. A roof with a pitch of
7/12 has an angle of elevation of about 30 degrees. Roof pitch can be converted to a
measure in degrees with the following formula: "Degrees=tan-1 (rise/run)". This is
because the tangent of the angle will equal "opposite/adjacent". In this case, the rise is the
opposite side and the run is the adjacent side. Since the tangent of the angle in degrees
equals rise/run, then the inverse tangent of rise/run will equal the value of the angle in
degrees. A generalization of how different roof slopes look by
BuyersChoiceInspections.com is: "Flat Roof: 2/12, Low Slope: 2/12-4/12, Conventional
Slope Roof: 4/12-9/12, Steep Slope: 9/12 and higher".
As you can see, trigonometry has many applications. The fields of construction and
engineering themselves have hundreds of them. From the very basics of using triangles
for their strength and sturdiness to calculating roof pitch to building trusses, there is a
very wide range of techniques and math used in this field. Without trigonometry, a lot of
the math used in construction would be much harder and time consuming, but thanks to it
we can do it all rather quickly with little information.
The area of the concrete floor needed in this house is
the area of the orange rectangle plus the extra parts of
the library, grand room, garage, laundry/morning room
and foyer. The areas of various rooms outside the orange
rectangle that must be calculated are:
Library: Al = (13' 9" – R)(11' 4") +
π R2/2 – (l3 – l7 – 14')(11' 4")
Grand Room: Ag = 15' l5
Garage: Ac = (l – l3)(21') + l1 W1
Laundry/Morning Room: Am = (11' 6" + 11' 8") W2 –
l2 W2 /2 = (23' 2" – l2/2) W2
Foyer: Af = l6 (W – 21' – W3 – 11' 4")
Therefore, the area of the concrete floor is:
A = l3 W + Al + Ag + Ac + Am + Af.
The volume of concrete that needs to be ordered, in cubic
feet, is equal to V = A h, where h is the thickness of the
concrete block in feet.

http://www.achieve.org/files/MathAtWork-Construction.pdf