How tall is that tree?

[Just1more]

As a general rule , the level of pain you feel when opening your wallet to pay the tree guys is the only measurement that concerns the average working man.

The most I’ve ever paid was $900 for a huge sweet gum next to a house. They hate sweet gums because they’ll dull all the equipment so fast.

 

[yardboss1]

The most I’ve ever paid was $900 for a huge sweet gum next to a house. They hate sweet gums because they’ll dull all the equipment so fast.

I have several big pine trees that I can no longer afford or want to pay to have cut down unless we try to sell our house. I would add the expense to the sales price to try and break even.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

For the last 10 years,
I've used a giant protractor from where I'm standing to get one angle,

and I know the angle from the tree trunk to me is 90 degrees,

so I can easily use addition and subtraction to get the third angle, from the top of tree down to me.

Then I'll go online w/my phone or computer and find an online trigonometry calculator tool to solve this triangle when I can plug in all 3 angles and the length of one side (ground).

P.S. When you do this, don't forget to add 5 feet to the answer of your tree's height, to account for your base length line being parallel to the ground but 5 feet above it, since you'd normally use the giant protractor from the standing position.

Triangle Calculator

This free triangle calculator computes the edges, angles, area, height, perimeter, median, as well as other values and a diagram of the resulting triangle.

www.calculator.net

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

P.S. If you say "Why don't you just back away from the tree so that the angle from your toes to the treetop is 45 degrees,
and then apply the Pythagorean Theorem,"

my response is that sometimes you can't see the tree's tippy top clearly from that place you stand, or that ground is not your (or your client's) property and you do not yet have permission to do logging work there.

But, if you can make it work as a right triangle with one 90-degree angle and two 45-degree angles, do it. It's super-easy.

You don't even need to memorize
"A squared + B squared = C squared."
Just know that whatever your distance is from the tree's base to the 45-degree point along the ground plane, THAT *is* YOUR TREE'S HEIGHT, too.

 

[Just1more]

The most I’ve ever paid was $900 for a huge sweet gum next to a house. They hate sweet gums because they’ll dull all the equipment so fast.

For the last 10 years,
I've used a giant protractor from where I'm standing to get one angle,

and I know the angle from the tree trunk to me is 90 degrees,

so I can easily use addition and subtraction to get the third angle, from the top of tree down to me.

Then I'll go online w/my phone or computer and find an online trigonometry calculator tool to solve this triangle when I can plug in all 3 angles and the length of one side (ground).

P.S. When you do this, don't forget to add 5 feet to the answer of your tree's height, to account for your base length line being parallel to the ground but 5 feet above it, since you'd normally use the giant protractor from the standing position.
View attachment 4418256

Triangle Calculator

This free triangle calculator computes the edges, angles, area, height, perimeter, median, as well as other values and a diagram of the resulting triangle.

www.calculator.net

You have a really big head in that picture

 

[gh1950]

Nobody was taught to measure tree height using a right angle, equal sided triangle? We did it in the 5 grade.

My dad taught me when I was about 12, using a carpenter's rule. When you get older, and take trig (if they still teach that) you can calculate it, using your height, height of the stick above ground, and length of the stick.