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Trigonometry of Right Angled Triangles
Trigonometry of Right Angled Triangles
Triangles
Objectives:
• Find unknown sides in right-angled triangles using a side and angle.
• Find unknown angles in right-angled triangle using two sides.
• Note: ‘Exact trigonometric ratios’ and 3D Trigonometry are covered
in separate slides.
Starter
𝑥 13
3
𝑦
4 5
Determine the length . Determine the length .
2 2 2 2 2? 2
5 +𝑦 =13
3 +4 =𝑥 ?
Worksheet
Unknown angle.
𝟏𝟑 𝟑
𝟒
𝒂
𝟏𝟒
𝒚
𝒙 Unknown side.
Unknown side.
𝟑𝟎°
𝟏𝟎
Names of sides relative to an angle
?
hypotenuse
opposite
?
The ‘opposite’ is the
30°
side opposite the
angle of interest.
adjacent
?
The ‘adjacent’ is the side adjacent
(i.e. next to) the angle of interest.
Quickfire Side Naming
1
𝑥
𝜽
? 1? ?2
2
𝑐
20°
? ? ?
𝑎 𝑏
Sin/Cos/Tan
! sin, cos and tan are functions which take an angle and give us the
ratio between pairs of sides in a right angle triangle.
Recall that ratio can just mean how many
times bigger one quantity is than another. 𝑜
𝒉 sin ( 𝜃 ) ?=
h
𝒐
𝜽 𝑎
cos ( 𝜃 ) ?=
𝒂 h
𝑜
tan ( 𝜃 )?=
𝑎
You can remember this using:
“soh cah toa”
Further Example
Find the value of (to 3sf)
𝒙
𝐬𝐢𝐧 ( 𝟐𝟎? ° )=
h 𝟐𝟎
° 𝟕
𝟕
𝒙
𝑜
Test Your Understanding So Far
Find the value of (to 3sf)
𝒚
𝐭𝐚𝐧 ( 𝟐𝟓?° )=
𝑜
𝟐𝟓 °
𝟓
𝒚 𝟓
𝑎
Harder Examples
If
the variable is in the
denominator, you can apply
𝟏𝟐
something called the
‘swapsie trick’.
𝒙
𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝟔𝟎 =
Notice that we can rearrange:
60 °
( ?) i.e. we can ‘swap’ the thing
𝒙
we’re dividing by and the
result of the division. In this
trig question, we could swap
the and the
12
𝒙
𝟒
𝒙 4
Test Your Understanding
1 2
? 8.63
Working:
? 20.2
Exercise 1 (questions on provided sheet)
I put a ladder 1.5m away from a 5 In the shape drawn below, . Work out the area of ,
2 giving your answer to 1 dp.
tree. The ladder is inclined at
89.2 cm2
above the horizontal. What is the ?
height of the tree?
?
Ship B is 100m east of Ship A, and
3 the bearing of Ship B from Ship A [OCR GCSE(9-1) SAM 6H Q16aii]
6
is . How far due North is the ship? Simon cuts the corners off a
? square piece of card to leave the
regular octagon shown below.
[Edexcel GCSE June2012-2H Q18] O is the centre of the octagon. A
4
The diagram shows a and B are vertices of the
quadrilateral ABCD. AB = 16 cm. octagon. OA = OB = 5 cm. Angle
AD = 12 cm. Angle BCD = 40°. AOB = 45°.
Angle ADB = angle CBD = 90°. Work out the area of the original
Calculate the length of CD.
16.5 cm ?
square piece of card. 85.4 cm2
? N
[IMC] The semicircle and
isosceles triangle have
equal areas. Find .
?
RECAP
When would we use trigonometry?
• When we have a right-angled triangle.
• When we’re involving two?side lengths and an angle.
4
𝑥= =4 ?√ 3 𝑜𝑟 6.93
tan 30
4
30 °
𝒙
But what if the angle is unknown?
We can use the same process…
𝒂
need.
𝜃=55.2° 4
5
? 2 [Edexcel GCSE June2014-2H Q15b]
The diagram shows the positions of 3
d
4 5 three turbines A, B and C.
Calculate the bearing of C from A. 𝜃=37.3°
?
𝜃 Give your answer correct to the
nearest degree.
7 10
𝜃=51.3°
? 217
? °
60°
𝜃
e
7
11
𝜃
𝜃=50.5°
?
Exercise 2 (questions on provided sheet)
1 1
N 1
The angles form a sequence.
Solution:
?
Give the formula for the th term of
𝜃 3
1 𝜃 2 the sequence.
𝜃 1 ?