Name: ____________________________
Using Special Right Triangles in your Career!!!
Architecture:
Your company is building a new mall in Fort Collins (hooray!). The mall is going to be two stories
high, and therefore will need some escalators. The escalator will need to carry people from the first
floor to the second floor 25 feet above. In order to stay with the building codes, the escalator will need
to rise at a 30 degree angle. How long will your escalator need to be?
Neatly draw a diagram of your escalator (make sure to label all you know about the angles and
sides). 5 points
What type of special right triangle did you create in your diagram? 2 points
Use what you know about special right triangles: how long is the escalator? ____________
3 points
City Planning:
Jefferson Park sits on one square city block 300 feet on each side. You are planning on adding some
landscape to the park which includes a sidewalk, so you need to know how much concrete you’ll
need. You are planning on adding a sidewalk that connects the southeast corner of the park with the
northwest corner. About how long with the sidewalk be (leave your answer as a decimal rounded to
the nearest hundredth place)?
Neatly draw a diagram of your park with the sidewalk. (Label all the angles/sides). 5 points
What type of special right triangle did you create in your diagram? 2 points
How long is the sidewalk (rounded to the nearest hundredth)? ____________ 3 points
Name: ____________________________
Farming:
A conveyor belt carries bales of hay from the ground to the barn loft 24 feet above the ground. When
leaning up against the barn, the conveyor belt makes a 60 degree angle with the ground. How far do
the bales of hay need to travel to get from one end of the conveyor belt to the other (round your
answer to the nearest foot)?
Neatly draw a diagram of the barn and the conveyor belt (label all angles/sides). 5 points
What type of special right triangle did you create in your diagram? 2 points
How far do the bales of hay have to travel up the conveyor belt (round your answer to the
nearest foot)? ______________ 3 points
In order to plan your day you need to know how long the job is going to take. If the conveyor belt
moves at 100 ft/min, how long does it take for a bale of hay to get from the ground to the barn loft?
3 points
A Couple More Just For Practice  (These have to be correct before I’ll take it!)
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