What are bearings?

• Bearings?are a way of describing and using?directions?as?angles
• They are specifically defined for use in navigation because they give a precise?location?and/or?direction

How are bearings defined?

• There are?three rules?which must be followed every time a bearing is defined
  • They are?measured?from the?North?direction
    • An arrow showing the North line should be included on the diagram
  • They are?measured clockwise
  • The angle is always written in?3 figures
    • If the angle is less than 100° the first digit will be a zero

What are bearings used for?

• Bearings questions will normally involve the use of Pythagoras or trigonometry to find missing distances (lengths) and directions (angles) within navigation questions
  • You should always?draw a diagram
• There may be a scale given or you may need to consider using a scale
  • However normally in IB you will be using triangle calculations to find the distances
• Some questions may also involve the use of angle facts to find the missing directions
• To answer a question involving?drawing bearings?the following steps may help:
  • STEP 1: Draw a diagram adding in any points and distances you have been given
  • STEP 2: Draw a North line (arrow pointing vertically up) at the point you wish to measure the bearing?from
    • If you are given the bearing?from A to B?draw the North line at?A
  • STEP 3: Measure the angle of the bearing given?from the North line?in the?clockwise direction
  • STEP 4:?Draw a line and add the point B at the given distance
• You will likely then need to use trigonometry to calculate the shortest distance or another given distance

What are the angles of elevation and depression?

• If a person looks at an?object?that is not on the same horizontal line as their eye-level they will be looking at either an angle of?elevation?or?depression
  • If a person looks?up?at an object their line of sight will be at an?angle of elevation?with the horizontal
  • If a person looks?down?at an object their line of sight will be at an?angle of depression?with the horizontal
• Angles of elevation and depression are measured?from the horizontal
• Right-angled trigonometry?can be used to find an angle of elevation or depression or a missing distance
• Tan is often used in real-life scenarios with angles of elevation and depression
  • For example if we know the distance we are standing from a tree and the angle of elevation of the top of the tree we can use Tan to find its height
  • Or if we are looking at a boat at to sea and we know our height above sea level and the angle of depression we can find how far away the boat is