Trigonometry which side is adjacent

Decreasing the angle c increases the cosine of the angle because the hypotenuse is fixed and the adjacent increases as the angle decreases. If we incline the 8 foot ladder so that its base is 6 feet from the wall, the angle decreases to about As you can see, for every angle, there is a unique point on the ground that the 8 foot ladder touches, and it is the same point every time we set the ladder to that angle.

Mathematicians call this situation a function. Notice also that as the cos c increases, the sin c decreases. If we incline the ladder so that the base is 6. Comparing this result with example two we find that:. That is why we call the ratio of the adjacent and the hypotenuse the "co-sine" of the angle. Since the sine, cosine, and tangent are all functions of the angle c , we can determine measure the ratios once and produce tables of the values of the sine, cosine, and tangent for various values of c.

Later, if we know the value of an angle in a right triangle, the tables will tell us the ratio of the sides of the triangle. If we know the length of any one side, we can solve for the length of the other sides. Or if we know the ratio of any two sides of a right triangle, we can find the value of the angle between the sides.

We can use the tables to solve problems. Some examples of problems involving triangles and angles include the forces on an aircraft in flight, the application of torques, and the resolution of the components of a vector. Here are tables of the sine, cosine, and tangent which you can use to solve problems. Activities: Guided Tours Navigation.. The answer is to use Sine, Cosine or Tangent! Use your calculator. Type in 39 and then use the "sin" key. That's easy! The depth the anchor ring lies beneath the hole is Hide Ads About Ads.

Trigono is Greek for triangle, -metry means measuring. In Dutch it is called 'goniometrie', where gonia is Greek for 'angle'. With trigonometry, you always work in right-angled triangles. In these triangles you have three sides, of which two intersect at a right angle. These sides are called shorter sides.

The shorter side that is opposite of the angle you look from is called the opposite shorter side.