Knoji’s Equation Station – Your October Maths Challenge

Welcome back Mathletes to another Maths exercise that will stretch your problem solving skills.

Today we are exploring bearings – a major part of studying trigonometry!

Bearings are a way of describing direction using angles measured clockwise from North. Think of it as giving directions — bearings tell you exactly which way to turn and how far.

A bearing is always written as a three-digit number — this helps remove confusion about which direction you mean.

Since bearings are measured clockwise, they go from 000° to 360°. Some of the most common bearings include:

Real life applications

📐Surveyors. These are professionals who measure and map land, structures, and boundaries for infrastructure planning. They use use bearings to determine positions, angles, and distances without measuring every single line directly. This means that the precise location of roads, pipelines and electrical poles rely on the fixed points bearings offer.

🧭 Navigation technology. From GPS systems to inbuilt maps in cars and drones, the underlying concept of navigation systems use bearings. Navigation systems break down directional measurement routes into smaller segments with bearings and distances (or directions) to maintain accuracy.

✈️Aviation traffic control. Bearings are crucial for safe, efficient air movement. Pilots use bearings for headings, for example, to fly from one waypoint to another; determine direction of travel relative to North; and to estimate length of flight.

⛰️Hiking. When trekking through the woods, GPS devices can lose signal and visible landmarks may be hard to find. In these situations, knowing how to set and follow a bearing becomes an essential navigation and safety skill. Hikers use specialised maps, called orienteering maps, that rely on bearings to help them navigate unfamiliar terrain, locate checkpoints, and plan routes through the landscape.

Maths challenge question

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• Solution

Click “Solution!” to check your answers!