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    Right Triangle Trigonometry: Opp Hyp Adj Hyp Opp Adj Hyp Opp Hyp Adj Adj Opp

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    Maria laura Seguisabal
    The document discusses solving right triangles using trigonometric functions. It defines the trig functions sine, cosine, tangent, cotangent, secant and cosecant in terms of the hypotenuse, adjacent, and opposite sides of a right triangle. Examples are given to show how to solve a right triangle given two side lengths or one side length and an angle measure, using trig functions and inverse trig functions to find the missing parts.

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    Right Triangle Trigonometry: Opp Hyp Adj Hyp Opp Adj Hyp Opp Hyp Adj Adj Opp

    Uploaded by

    Maria laura Seguisabal
    60 views4 pages
    The document discusses solving right triangles using trigonometric functions. It defines the trig functions sine, cosine, tangent, cotangent, secant and cosecant in terms of the hypotenuse, adjacent, and opposite sides of a right triangle. Examples are given to show how to solve a right triangle given two side lengths or one side length and an angle measure, using trig functions and inverse trig functions to find the missing parts.

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    The document discusses solving right triangles using trigonometric functions. It defines the trig functions sine, cosine, tangent, cotangent, secant and cosecant in terms of the hypotenuse, adjacent, and opposite sides of a right triangle. Examples are given to show how to solve a right triangle given two side lengths or one side length and an angle measure, using trig functions and inverse trig functions to find the missing parts.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    60 views4 pages

    Right Triangle Trigonometry: Opp Hyp Adj Hyp Opp Adj Hyp Opp Hyp Adj Adj Opp

    Uploaded by

    Maria laura Seguisabal
    The document discusses solving right triangles using trigonometric functions. It defines the trig functions sine, cosine, tangent, cotangent, secant and cosecant in terms of the hypotenuse, adjacent, and opposite sides of a right triangle. Examples are given to show how to solve a right triangle given two side lengths or one side length and an angle measure, using trig functions and inverse trig functions to find the missing parts.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 4

    Right Triangle Trigonometry

    In this section, we are interested in using trigonometric functions to compute the values of all
    angles and sides of any right triangle, given the value of any two sides of the triangle or the value
    of one side and one acute angle. This process is called “solving the right triangle.”

    Consider the right triangle shown below, where angle θ is one of the acute angles. We may
    define the functions in terms of the hypotenuse (Hyp), the side adjacent (Adj) to angle θ, and the
    side opposite (Opp) the angle θ for any right triangle, as shown below.

    Opp Hyp
    sin θ = csc θ =
    Hyp Opp

    Adj Hyp
    cos θ = sec θ =
    Hyp Adj

    Opp Adj
    tan θ = cot θ =
    Adj Opp

    In order to solve right triangles given the lengths of two sides or one side and the value of one
    acute angle, it will be necessary to compute the value of a trigonometric function of one of the
    angles. We can use a calculator to do this.

    We may also need a calculator to compute the value of an inverse trigonometric function, that is,
    the value of an angle given the value of a trigonometric function of that angle. The inverse
    function of a sine function, for example, can be written as sin-1 or as arcsin.

    3
    To illustrate, we may remember that sin ( 60° ) = . So for the inverse function, we may write
    2
    3 3
    sin −1 = 60° , or arcsin = 60° .
    2 2
    Example 1: Solve the right triangle shown below with the length of side a = 5 meters and
    angle θ = 25°.

    Solution:

    We are given the value of one of the angles, so we can find the value of the other
    acute angle of the right triangle by subtracting from 90 degrees.

    angle φ = 90 – θ = 90 – 25 = 65°

    Now we can use a trigonometric function of one of the angles to compute the
    length of one of the unknown sides. (Use a calculator to find the value of the
    trigonometric function for a given angle.)

    cos θ = cos ( 25° )


    = 0.9063
    a
    =
    c
    5
    =
    c
    5
    c= = 5.5169 meters
    .9063

    To compute the length of the other unknown side, we can use another
    trigonometric function of the angle.

    tan θ = tan ( 25° )


    = 0.4663
    b
    =
    a
    b
    =
    5

    b = 5(.4663) = 2.3315 meters


    Alternately, we could have used the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for side b after
    having found side c.

    c2 = a 2 + b2
    b2 = c2 − a 2
    b = c2 − a2
    = 5.51692 − 52
    = 30.4362 − 25
    = 5.4362
    = 2.3315 meters

    Example 2: Solve the right triangle shown below with the length of side b = 7 feet and side
    c = 9 feet.

    Solution:

    First we can use a trigonometric function to solve for angle θ. We know that

    b 7
    sin θ = = = .7778
    c 9

    If we now use the inverse sine function, we can find angleθ.

    θ = sin −1 .7778 = 51.06° (using a calculator)

    To find angle φ in the right triangle, we can subtract angleθ from 90 degrees.

    φ = 90 − θ = 90 − 51.06 = 38.94°
    Example 2 (Continued):

    Finally, we need to solve for side a.

    a a
    cos θ = cos 51.06° = .6285 = =
    c 9

    a = 9(.6285) = 5.6565 feet

    Alternatively, we could have used the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for side a.

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