Week-4
This week in Math 10 we learn how to find the missing sides of a right triangle. Naming and knowing how to tell apart each side of the triangle is very important. It could effect the answer very much, so you won’t end with the right answer but with a completely different one. So far, so good in learning trigonometry, I thought that it would be much harder from how it sounds.
Finding missing sides of a right triangle
To find the missing sides of a right triangle, there are a few things you should look for. So, in order to find it you’ll need, an acute angle (angle less than 90), the measurement of one of the sides and of course the right angle. If you don’t have those all together then you won’t be able to do it.
Example #1:
For example, let’s start with a right triangle with an acute angle of 53 and a side length of 9.6. First we label each side first, then we start with side ‘ b ‘. For ‘b’ the label there, is ‘op’ and since there is already a given measurement on one of the sides (9.6), we use that too and the label there, is ‘A’. Since Tangent ratio has the opposite on top and adjacent on the bottom, it will be the same with this. Start the equation with, tan53°= b/9.6, since the 9.6 is on the bottom we would move to the other side and it becomes 9.6(tan53º)= b. Lastly type 9.6(tan53º) in your calculator and the results you get is 12.7.
Example #2:
Now let’s start with another right triangle, with a acute angle of 40 and a side length of 29. Again, we label each side, then we start with finding side ‘x’. We look at the label at ‘x’ and the given measurement and at the opposite side we have 29cm and the adjacent side we have “x”. So, we are going to use tangent ratio, 29 on top and “x” on the bottom. Our equation will look like this: tan40º 
