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In a right triangle, one acute angle is twice as large as the other acute angle. What is the degree measurement of the smaller angle?

a) 30 degrees
b) 45 degrees
c) 60 degrees
d) 90 degrees

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Final answer:

In a right triangle where one acute angle is twice as large as the other, the smaller angle is 30 degrees.

Step-by-step explanation:

In a right triangle, the sum of the three angles is always 180 degrees. Since we are dealing with a right triangle, one of these angles is already known to be 90 degrees. Therefore, the sum of the other two remaining angles, which are acute, has to be 90 degrees. According to the question, one acute angle is twice as large as the other. Let's denote the smaller angle as x. Thus, the other angle is 2x.

The equation for the sum of angles in our triangle would be: x + 2x + 90 = 180. Simplifying this, we have 3x + 90 = 180. To find the value of x, we need to solve for x by subtracting 90 from both sides of the equation, which gives us 3x = 90. Dividing both sides by 3, we get x = 30.

The degree measurement of the smaller angle is therefore 30 degrees.

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