Sunday, September 26, 2010

Solving Right Triangles 9-1

This chapter so far, is the easiest one we have had yet. It is pretty much geometry that we already learned, but with a few extra steps. For these problems to be worked, you have to remember SOHCAHTOA. This stands for:
Sin= opposite/hypotenuse
Cos= adjacent/hypotenuse
Tan= opposite/adjacent

If you can remember SOHCAHTOA, you can remember all the formulas because secant, cosecant, and cotangent are all reciprocals of these.
Opposite is the degrees that is across from the one that is already given to you. Adjacent is the degrees that is attached to the one already given, and hypotenuse is always the degrees across from the right angle.

To solve a problem, you simply draw your right triangle and add in the degrees that they give you. Once you are done, you look to see what they are asking you to solve, and you look for the appropriate formula. Then you are done.

Solve the triangle ABC.
Angle B- 34degrees Angle b- 26 degrees Angle A- 90 degrees
Those are the angles given, so you need to find angles a, C, and c.

To find C, you just simply subtract 180-90-34 to come up with your answer.
Angle C= 56 degrees

To find a, you will use sin which is opposite/ hypotenuse
Angle a= 46.496 degrees.

To find c, you will use tan, which is opposite/ adjacent
Angle c= 38.547 degrees.

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