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 Trig, how do I find missing side?

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I'm doing this trig problem where it gives me a hypotenuse of 6, two missing legs, and a 40 degree angle, it wants me to find the measure of one leg (x), but I don't know what process I should go through. Should I use the Pythagorean theorem or should I use the fact that x/6( the hypotenuse) = the 40 degree angle? please help!
 Feb 21, 2012

Best Answer 

 #3
avatar+118608 
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You can't use pythagoras because you only have 1 side.

So you have to use trig.

depending on where you put the 40 degrees it could be cos or sin.

See if this helps.

http://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/trig-finding-side-right-triangle.html

 Feb 18, 2015

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 #1
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depending where the angle is, as to how it relates to the sides, I would
use the sine, cosine, or tangent functions to find the unknown sides.
 Feb 21, 2012
 #2
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take the sine of the angle times the hyp. this will give you the side opp.

                 Rustynut "jus get n by "

 Feb 17, 2015
 #3
avatar+118608 
+5
Best Answer

You can't use pythagoras because you only have 1 side.

So you have to use trig.

depending on where you put the 40 degrees it could be cos or sin.

See if this helps.

http://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/trig-finding-side-right-triangle.html

Melody Feb 18, 2015

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