SOLUTION: In a right triangle, the hypotenuse is 20cm, the longer leg is 13cm, and one angle is x degrees. The triangle is not drawn to scale. Find the value of x and round to the neares

Click here to see ALL problems on Trigonometry-basics

Question 1128902: In a right triangle, the hypotenuse is 20cm, the longer leg is 13cm, and one angle is x degrees.
The triangle is not drawn to scale.
Find the value of x and round to the nearest degree.
I think this problem uses cosine
Multichoice answers:
a. 37
b. 33
c. 41
d. 49

Found 3 solutions by rothauserc, MathLover1, KMST:
Answer by rothauserc(4718)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
other side = square root(20^2 - 13^2) is approximately 15.20
:
***************************
the longer leg is not 13 cm
***************************
:
find angle x in your diagram, cosine of x will be one of the following
:
cosine x = 13/20
:
cosine x = 15.20/20
:
then angle x in degrees will be inverse cosine function of the cosine value
:

Answer by MathLover1(20850)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

the hypotenuse is , the longer leg is , and one angle isdegrees.

�

Answer by KMST(5328)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

That is the sine of the angle opposite the 13-cm leg,
and the cosine of the angle adjacent to the 13-cm leg.
.
If your problem has a drawing, is the x on the angle adjacent to the 13-cm side,
or is the angle marked with x opposite that side
Using the inverse sine and inverse cosine functions in my calculator,
I find approximate angles:

.
Those angles add up to (as they should).
Their approximate measures, round to the nearest degree are and .
Without more information, c and d are correct answers.
If there is a drawing that gives you more information,
you can figure out if the right answer is c or d.