Copy of Discovering Sine, Cosine, and Tangent in Right Triangles
Use the slider and point D to figure out how sin(A), cos(A), and tan(A) are related to a, b, and c and to the size of the triangle. Record your observations in an organized table.
Write out rules that you could use to find the sine, cosine, and tangent of any acute angle in a right triangle. Include a diagram.
To find the sine, you must divide the opposite by the hypotenuse; s=o/h. In order to find the cosine, you must divide the adjacent by the hypotenuse; c=a/h. In order to find the tangent, you must find the opposite length and divide it by the adjacent.
| sin | | x | = | o/h |
| cos | | x | = | a/h |
| tan | | x | = | o/a |