Question

Can someone please explain to me how to use sin, cos, and tan for triangle calculations? Feel free to use whatever example. I just want to understand how use the trigonometric ratios. Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi there!

A way to remember how to do each way is: Soh Cah Toa

Sin- opposite over hypotenuse Cos- Adjacent over hypotenuse Tan- opposite over adjacent.

Hypotenuse is the longest the side of the triangle

and the adjacent side is the side laying near the symbol theta.

Answer 2

It helps thinking of Sin, Cos, Tan as SOH-CAH -TOA. SOH meaning Sin= Opposite/ Hypotenuse, CAH meaning Cos= Adjacent/ Hypotenuse and TOA meaning Tan= Opposite/ Adjacent. Anything across from the Reference point is Opposite, what is across from Opposite is adjacent and what is across from the right angle is Hypotenuse. I hope I’m answering your question correctly and hope this helps!