Every card in Geometry and measures, Year 11: frustums and trigonometry
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- A solid is made from a cylinder of radius 3 cm and height 10 cm with a hemisphere of radius 3 cm fixed on top, so that the flat face of the hemisphere exactly covers the top of the cylinder. Using volume of a sphere = 4/3 × π × r³, what is the volume of the solid in terms of π?
108π cm³
HintFind the two parts separately, remembering that only half a ball is used.
WhyCylinder: π × 3² × 10 = 90π. Whole sphere: 4/3 × π × 3³ = 36π, so the hemisphere is 18π. Total: 90π + 18π = 108π cm³.
- A cone has a base radius of 6 cm and a height of 12 cm. Its top is sliced off parallel to the base, removing a small cone of radius 3 cm and height 6 cm. Using volume of a cone = 1/3 × π × r² × h, the whole cone has a volume of ____π cm³, the removed cone has a volume of ____π cm³, and the solid that is left has a volume of ____π cm³.
144; 18; 126
HintWhat is left is a big cone with a little cone taken away.
WhyWhole cone: 1/3 × π × 6² × 12 = 144π. Removed cone: 1/3 × π × 3² × 6 = 18π. What is left (a frustum): 144π − 18π = 126π cm³. Although the cut is half-way up, the piece removed is only one eighth of the volume.
- The solid that is left when the top of a cone is sliced off parallel to its base
A frustum
HintThink of the shape of a bucket or a lampshade; the name begins with f.
WhyA frustum has two circular faces of different sizes joined by a sloping curved surface. Its volume is found by subtracting the small cone that was removed from the original cone.
- A solid is made by fixing a cone on top of a cylinder. Both have a radius of 3 cm, so the base of the cone exactly covers the top of the cylinder. The cylinder is 5 cm high and the cone has a slant height of 5 cm. Using curved surface area of a cone = π × r × l, what is the total surface area of the solid, including its flat circular base, in terms of π?
54π cm²
HintList only the surfaces you could touch from outside: one flat circle and two curved surfaces.
WhyCurved surface of the cylinder: 2 × π × 3 × 5 = 30π. Its base: π × 3² = 9π. Curved surface of the cone: π × 3 × 5 = 15π. Total: 30π + 9π + 15π = 54π cm². The two circles where the shapes join are inside the solid and are not counted.
- A cuboid measures 4 cm by 5 cm by 10 cm. A cylindrical hole of radius 1 cm is drilled straight through it along the 10 cm length. What volume of the cuboid is left, in terms of π?
(200 − 10π) cm³
HintWork out the solid block first, then the shape of the material that was removed.
WhyCuboid: 4 × 5 × 10 = 200 cm³. The hole is a cylinder 10 cm long: π × 1² × 10 = 10π cm³. Remaining: 200 − 10π cm³, which is about 168.6 cm³.
- To work back from the sine of an angle to the angle itself, use the ____ sine function, written sin⁻¹ on a calculator.
inverse
HintIt is the function that undoes sine, in the way that subtracting undoes adding.
WhyIf sin x = 0.5 then x = sin⁻¹(0.5) = 30°. The same idea gives cos⁻¹ and tan⁻¹. On most calculators these are reached with the SHIFT key.
- Triangle ABC has a right angle at B. AB = 5 cm and the hypotenuse AC = 13 cm. Which trigonometric ratio do you use to find angle A, and what do you key into a calculator?
Cosine: A = cos⁻¹(5 ÷ 13)
HintLabel the two sides you know from A's point of view: is AB touching that corner or facing it?
WhyFrom angle A, AB is the adjacent side and AC is the hypotenuse, and the ratio that links those two is cosine. cos A = 5/13, so A = cos⁻¹(5/13), which is 67.4° to one decimal place.
- In a right-angled triangle, the side opposite angle x is 5 cm and the hypotenuse is 10 cm. Without a calculator, what is the size of angle x, in degrees? (number only)
30
HintWork out opposite ÷ hypotenuse and match it to an exact value you have learned.
Whysin x = 5/10 = 1/2. The angle whose sine is exactly 1/2 is 30°, one of the exact values to know.
- A straight ramp rises 1.5 m over a horizontal distance of 6 m. What angle does the ramp make with the horizontal? Give your answer to 1 decimal place.
14.0°
HintThe two lengths you know are the one facing the angle and the one beside it along the ground; neither is the sloping length.
WhyThe rise is opposite the angle and the horizontal distance is adjacent, so tan x = 1.5 ÷ 6 = 0.25. Then x = tan⁻¹(0.25) = 14.04°, which is 14.0° to one decimal place.
- To find angle x in a right-angled triangle, a pupil writes cos x = 12 ÷ 5, and the calculator shows an error for cos⁻¹(2.4). The sides were 5 cm (adjacent to x) and 12 cm (the hypotenuse). What went wrong?
The fraction is upside down: cos x = adjacent ÷ hypotenuse = 5 ÷ 12, and a cosine can never be more than 1
HintThe longest side of the triangle belongs on the bottom here. How big can the result be?
WhySine and cosine both divide a shorter side by the hypotenuse, so for an angle in a right-angled triangle their values lie between 0 and 1. An error from sin⁻¹ or cos⁻¹ is a sign that the division was done the wrong way round. Here x = cos⁻¹(5/12) = 65.4° to one decimal place.
- A cuboid measures 3 cm by 4 cm by 12 cm. What is the length of the straight line joining one corner to the opposite corner through the inside of the cuboid, in cm? (number only)
13
HintUse Pythagoras' theorem twice: first across one face, then from that diagonal to the far corner.
WhyThe diagonal of the 3 by 4 face is √(3² + 4²) = 5 cm. That diagonal and the 12 cm edge form a right-angled triangle whose hypotenuse is the diagonal through the cuboid: √(5² + 12²) = 13 cm. In one step, 3² + 4² + 12² = 169 = 13².
- A cuboid has a horizontal rectangular base ABCD with AB = 4 cm and BC = 3 cm. Its vertical edges are 5 cm long, and G is the corner directly above C. What is the angle between the line AG and the base ABCD?
45°
HintFirst find the length of AC along the floor, then look at the triangle standing on it.
WhyAC is the diagonal of the base: √(4² + 3²) = 5 cm. Triangle ACG has a right angle at C, with AC = 5 cm and CG = 5 cm, so tan(angle GAC) = 5 ÷ 5 = 1 and the angle is 45°.
- A pyramid has a square base with sides of 6 cm. Its top point V is 4 cm vertically above O, the centre of the base. M is the midpoint of one side of the base. The distance OM is ____ cm, so the sloping length VM is ____ cm.
3; 5
HintO is in the middle of the square, so OM reaches only part of the way across. Then VOM is a right-angled triangle.
WhyFrom the centre of a square to the middle of a side is half the side length: 3 cm. VO is vertical and OM is horizontal, so triangle VOM has a right angle at O, and VM = √(4² + 3²) = 5 cm.
- A vertical pole 6 m tall stands at one corner of a flat rectangular field that is 8 m wide and 15 m long. What is the angle of elevation of the top of the pole from the opposite corner of the field (the angle above the horizontal)? Give your answer to 1 decimal place.
19.4°
HintThe observer's ground distance from the pole runs corner to corner across the field.
WhyThe diagonal of the field is √(8² + 15²) = 17 m. The pole, the diagonal and the line of sight form a right-angled triangle, so tan x = 6 ÷ 17 and x = tan⁻¹(6 ÷ 17) = 19.4° to one decimal place.
- A pyramid has a square base ABCD with centre O, and its top point V is directly above O. M is the midpoint of the side AB. Which angle, named with three letters, is the angle between the sloping face VAB and the base?
VMO (also written OMV)
HintYou need two lines that each meet AB squarely, one lying in each of the two surfaces.
WhyThe face and the base meet along AB. The angle between two planes is measured between lines, one in each plane, that are perpendicular to that shared edge. MV (in the face) and MO (in the base) are both perpendicular to AB at M, so the angle is VMO, found from tan(VMO) = VO ÷ OM.
- What is the exact value of sin 30°? Give a fraction.
1/2
HintPicture an equilateral triangle with sides of 2, cut in two from top to bottom.
WhyHalving an equilateral triangle of side 2 gives a right-angled triangle with angles of 30°, 60° and 90°. Opposite the 30° angle is half a side, 1, and the hypotenuse is 2, so sin 30° = 1/2.
- What is the exact value of cos 30°?
√3/2 (root 3, divided by 2)
HintTake an equilateral triangle of side 2 and cut it down the middle. Find its height with Pythagoras' theorem; the height lies next to the 30° angle.
WhyThe cut triangle has hypotenuse 2 and shortest side 1, so its height is √(2² − 1²) = √3. The height is adjacent to the 30° angle, so cos 30° = √3/2, about 0.866.
- What is the exact value of sin 45°, and which other trigonometric ratio of 45° has the same value?
√2/2 (the same as 1/√2); cos 45° has the same value
HintUse a right-angled triangle whose two shorter sides are both 1, and find its longest side.
WhyA right-angled triangle with two sides of 1 has angles of 45°, 45° and 90° and hypotenuse √2. So sin 45° = cos 45° = 1/√2, which is √2/2 when the denominator is rationalised, about 0.707. Because opposite and adjacent are equal, tan 45° = 1.
- As an angle grows from 0° to 90°, its sine grows from 0 to ____.
1
HintAt 90° the side facing the angle has become as long as the hypotenuse.
Whysin 0° = 0 and sin 90° = 1. Cosine runs the other way: cos 0° = 1 and cos 90° = 0. Also tan 0° = 0; the specification asks for no exact value of tan 90°.
- A right-angled triangle has an angle of 60°. The side adjacent to the 60° angle (not the hypotenuse) is 5 cm long. Without a calculator, what is the exact length of the side opposite the 60° angle?
5√3 cm
HintThe two sides involved are opposite and adjacent, so choose the ratio that links them and recall its exact value at 60°.
Whytan 60° = opposite ÷ adjacent, and tan 60° = √3 exactly. So opposite = 5 × √3 = 5√3 cm, about 8.66 cm. The other exact tangents are tan 30° = 1/√3 (or √3/3) and tan 45° = 1.
1★ GCSE-MATH-GEO-0091
2★ GCSE-MATH-GEO-0092
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4★ GCSE-MATH-GEO-0094
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10★ GCSE-MATH-GEO-0100
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12★ GCSE-MATH-GEO-0102
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20★ GCSE-MATH-GEO-0110
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