Reflection

SOHCAHTOA:
sin theta=opposite/hypotenuse
cos theta=adjacent/hypotenuse
tan theta=opposite/adjacent

SOHCAHTOA is used when either you have two sides of a right triangle and you need to find an angle or you have an angle and one side. Here's an example:

A right triangle has 3 angles: 90°, 30°, and 60°. The hypotenuse is x cm. The side opposite the 60° angle is 8 cm. What is the length of the hypotenuse?

You would use the sin formula and the equation would be sin(60)=8/x.
Then you would get .8660=8/x
You divide 8 by .8660 and get 9.2380
So the hypotenuse of the triangle would be 9.2380 cm.

So what exactly are we doing this week in this class?