Question

Instructions: Find the length of the missing sides. Round youranswers to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

We can start by using a acronym that is SohCahToa.

SohCahToa stands for:

`sin=(opposite)/(hypotenuse);\text{ }cos=(adjacent)/(hypotenuse);\text{ }tan=(opposite)/(adjacent)`

Here we can find x or y first. It doesn't matter what order but for the sake we will find x first.

Using SohCahToa we use Tan because opposite of 32° is x and next to it is 15

So:

`tan(32\degree)=(x)/(15)\Rightarrow15*tan(32\degree)=x\Rightarrow x\approx9.4`

Now that we found x we can use SohCahToa again to find y or use the pythagorean theorem now that we know what x is. Let's use SohCahToa

So for y we use Cos :

`cos(32\degree)=(15)/(y)\Rightarrow y*cos(32\degree)=15\Rightarrow y=(15)/(cos(32\degree))\Rightarrow y\approx17.7`

Answer: x=9.4 and y=17.7