SOHCAHTOA

This week in class we learned about using SOHCAHTOA.

SOHCAHTOA stands for:

Sin=opposite/hypotenuse

Cos=adjacent/hypotenuse

Tan=opposite/adjacent

You can only use SOHCAHTOA when you are dealing with a right triangle.

You can not use the 90 degree angle.

The angle of elevation is when you are looking from the bottom to the top of the triangle.

The angle of depression is when you are looking from the top to the bottom of the triangle.

Steps:

Step 1: Find the names of the two sides you are working on. The side that you already know and the side that you are trying to find.

Step 2: Figure out which you will use.

Step 3: Fill in the equation with the information that you know.

Step 4: Solve the equation.

Example 1:

Find the height of the plane.

Step 1: The side that we know is the hypotenuse and the side that we are trying to find is adjacent to the angle.

Step 2: We are going to use Cosine.

Step 3: Cos60=h/1000

Cos60=0.5

0.5=h/1000
h / 1000 = 0.5
h = 0.5 x 1000 = 500

So, the height of the plane is 500.