you have posted quite a few of these, and I think you have missed them all. Better review the definitions of the basic trig function. For this one, you want
arcsin(50/120)
A sled travels from point A at the top of a hill to point B at the bottom. If the sled travels 120 m from A to B and the vertical descent AC is 50 m, what is the angle of depression to the nearest degree?
arctan=50/120
4 answers
I agree with Steve. I think you have mis-labeled the diagram. The distance AB is 120m and that is the hypotenuse of the triangle and not the base.
thank you, and my tutor's not very good, and I am home schooled so I have to kind of learn it for myself no one is around to explain it and help me understand I do not have a book due to the budget
money is no excuse. you evidently have the internet. A simple google search will provide oodles of explanations and examples.
One key fact, which I found one of my students was having trouble with: For the purposes of the trig functions, the hypotenuse is not a side!
When looking at one of the acute angles in a right triangle, opposite and adjacent refer to one of the perpendicular sides, not the hypotenuse.
So, consider the angle in question, and its cosine is
adjacentside/hypotenuse
the hypotenuse is also adjacent, but it is not a side in this context.
One key fact, which I found one of my students was having trouble with: For the purposes of the trig functions, the hypotenuse is not a side!
When looking at one of the acute angles in a right triangle, opposite and adjacent refer to one of the perpendicular sides, not the hypotenuse.
So, consider the angle in question, and its cosine is
adjacentside/hypotenuse
the hypotenuse is also adjacent, but it is not a side in this context.