Question 1002822
cot 40 degrees 20 minutes is what is shown.


you want to convert minutes to degrees.


minutes = 60 * degrees.


therefore degrees = minutes / 60


40 degrees 20 minutes is the same as 40 + 20/60 degrees.


tht becomes 40.333333333333....... degrees.


this can also be written as (40 + 1/3) degrees.


in your calculator, enter 1 / tan(40 + 1/3) and you will get cot(40.33333....).


the result is 1.17769791


if you had rounded 4.33333333...... to 6 decimal places, you would have gotten cot(40.333333) = 1/tan(40.333333) = 1.177769805


that's accurate to 6 decimal places which may or may not be accurate enough depending on what you using the measurement for.


the following reference explains the conversion process in more detail.


there are degrees and minutes and seconds.


1 degree is equal to 60 minutes.


1 minute is equal to 60 degrees.


1 degree is therefore equal to 3600 seconds (60 * 60).


<a href = "http://www.augustatech.edu/math/molik/DegreesTransparency.pdf" target = "_blank">http://www.augustatech.edu/math/molik/DegreesTransparency.pdf</a>


you use 1/tan rather than cot because most calculator don't give you cot directly.