Angle of Elevation and Depression · 3 min read

Terminologies

Terms Used in Angle of Elevation and Depression

There are three main things you need to know about how we measure these angles:

An angle is just the space or gap between two lines that meet at one point.

Angle is a gap between two lines which connects on one side.

We use degrees to measure how wide this gap is.

A horizontal line is a flat, straight line that goes from left to right, like the ground or the level of your eyes when you look straight ahead.

Horizontal Line is a straight line on a coordinate flat surface where all points on the line have the same y-coordinate.

When this flat line and the angle come together, they form what we call the angle of elevation.

The line of sight is the imaginary straight line that goes from your eyes directly to the thing you are looking at.

Line of Sight is the line which is drawn from the eyes of the observer to the point being viewed on the object.

Think of it like an invisible string tied from your eye to the object you are watching.

The horizontal line can be either the adjacent side or the opposite side of the triangle, depending on how you draw it.

The line of sight is the longest side of the triangle, which we call the hypotenuse.

•An angle is the gap between two lines meeting at a point, measured in degrees.
•A horizontal line is a straight line on a flat surface where all points have the same y-coordinate.
•The line of sight connects the observer's eyes to the object being viewed.
•In the context of angles of elevation/depression, the line of sight is the hypotenuse, and the horizontal line can be the adjacent or opposite side.