Tangents help

[kittykat]

Hi, I am having a little bit of trouble with the concept of tangents. How do you find out the degree of an angle of a triangle? If anyone can help that would be great. Alyssa

 

[Euler]

You can find the degree of the angle (marked theta) by taking the inverse trig function that uses the sides. For instance, you mentioned tangent. If you want to find the angle using tangent, use tan^-1 (inverse tangent) then the Opposite Side/Adjacent Side.

Sin = Opposite/Hypotenuse
Cos = Adjacent/Hypotenus
Tan = Opposite/Adjacent

If you want to find angles, you will need to use the inverse of these trig functions, which appear as (cos^-1, tan^-1, and sin^-1 on your calculator).

 

[kittykat]

Thanks for your help - Alyssa