CurlyFry

Here is what I meant by all that. The top line (sliding cable) is 180°, while the three angles below are all 60°. This made it WAY easier

She got back to me!

So the three angles beneath the sliding cable all equal 60 degrees, equalling 180 degrees total.
Hope that helps! I can further clarify if needed

Understood. I'll ask the professor about it and reply here again when I find more info

Regarding the question itself, that is all she gave me. You can probably see that "the hanging cables make 60° with the sliding cable" isn't very specific at all. Otherwise, I'm not really sure at all how to get the correct degree values here. Is using that X-axis as a reference incorrect?

We need more information than that. What does x equal?

$(x*x*x*x)$

^ That's what x to the 4th power is. But it simplifies down to:

$x^4$

Ohhh duh, thanks so much :)