[Shop-talk] math wizards ??? come here

[Roland Wilhelmy]

use a sine function, not a tangent, since you have the hypotenuse and
the side opposite the angle given.
side note:  tan and  sine of relatively small angles are just about
the same number since tan = sin/cos and cos of small angles is close
to 1.0

-Roland

On Thu, 9 Apr 2009 19:32:24 EDT, you wrote:

::In a message dated 4/9/09 12:49:19 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
::cak at dimebank.com writes:
::
::> You  need a few more pieces of information in order to do the trig.
::
::Not really ... as Randall pointed out, 'similar triangles' gets
::it  done with what he's got, since all the ratios remain the  same.
::
::
::
::Only if the boom has a slide on it, allowing the boom to lengthen as it
::rises;  Given that he has the length from the hinge to the hook and  the
::length from the hinge to the jacking point, a trig. table or a  scientific
::calculator should give  the angle of which the tangent is  1"/12"; then that
::angle's tangent, multiplied by 96" should give the height  of the hook above
::level.