Our most recent math project has revolved around the concepts of trigonometry and calculating angles, as well as using solar panels and incorporating them into a scale model. The project required me and my partner Adlih to research a location of our choice, find the angle of the sun in that location, design dimensions for the support structure for a model that we would then build with labeled measurements, and finally we would create an instructional video to teach people about the ideal angles for solar panels in their location

When creating the model aspect of our project, me and my partner had to use trigonometry to find the degree of the angles as well as the side lengths of our structure. I learned a lot about this subject during the process, as well as a lot about myself and my learning habits. I learned that I memorize information very slowly and it takes more effort for me to understand a concept that it would for a lot of other people. With this in mind, I tried my best not to let this hold me back and kept trying. I even spent many days after school researching online and trying to better understand how to do trigonometry. By the end I was finally caught up and now I’m pretty decent at trigonometry, which may not seem like much but this was a big accomplishment to me because at the start I thought I would never be able to figure it out. 

Below is a mind map on trigonometry and everything I learned about it.

We created our model based on the location that we chose, which for us was Kharga Egypt. We decided to make our support look like a shipping container because we thought it would be more ethical, and we made the support white so that it wouldn’t absorb more light and make the inside extremely hot. The rest of the information is featured in our video which I will link to below.