SOLUTION: While a student was playing with their calculator they found that sometimes the answers produced from taking the sine and cosine of different angles were the same answer. The infor
Algebra ->
Trigonometry-basics
-> SOLUTION: While a student was playing with their calculator they found that sometimes the answers produced from taking the sine and cosine of different angles were the same answer. The infor
Log On
Question 1181604: While a student was playing with their calculator they found that sometimes the answers produced from taking the sine and cosine of different angles were the same answer. The information below are some of the examples of when this occurs.
sin 55° = 0.819152044 and cos 35° = 0.819152044 sin 30° = 0.5 and cos 60° = 0.5. sin 15° = 0.258819045 and cos 75° = 0.258819045
Why do these calculations produce the same answer? Answer by greenestamps(13216) (Show Source):
In each case, the two angles are complementary (sum is 90 degrees), so they are the acute angles of a right triangle.
It follows from the SOHCAHTOA definition of the basic trig functions for a right triangle that in a right triangle the sine of one acute angle is the cosine of the other, and vice versa.
