Suppose the tangent of an acute angle in a right triangle is less than 1. How does the side opposite the angle compare to the side adjacent to the angle?

Answer 1

tangent of an angle is opposite/adjacent.
For angles >45°, the tangent > 1
for angles < 45°, the tangent < 1
so to get a value of < 1, the fraction must have been a proper fraction, that is, then opposite must have been less than the adjacent.