HELP!!!!! I'm in DIRE need of some help!!!!?

Question

I have a right triangle, the adjacent side is 12 units long, the hypotenuse is 13 units long and the opposite side is 5 units long.
The adj is line segment AC, the hyp is line seg AB and the opp is line seg BC. Angle C is a 90 degree angle, I need to figure out either angle B or A, preferably A. Can somebody PLEASE HELP ME!!!?!????!?!!!!!! IF you get the angle for A, can you explain how you got it?
HELP!!!!!

otherlover,

How'd you get 13/12 to about 47 degrees?
Thank you SO MUCH for your help.

I GET IT!!!!!
Okay, on my calculator, there's a button that says TAN-1. I put in 13/12 and got1.083333333 and then pressed TAN-1 and got47.29061004!
Is that what you got? IO think I might have just done it right!!!!
THANKS A TON!!!!!

Found the answers guys, but thanks SOOO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!!!!!!!
I seriously don't think I caould have done this without you.

Answer 1

OK, so you have a 5-12-13 right triangle, and you want to find the measures of the two non-right angles. You basically just take the values 5, 12, and 13, and use any of the trig functions. For example, the sine of A is going to be 5/13. The tangent of A is going to be 5/12, etc.

To keep this simple, let's just pick:

sin(A) = 5/13
sin(B) = 12/13

If the sine of A is 5/13, then the inverse sine of 5/13 will give you back A. On some scientific calculators you'll see a "sin^(-1)" function that does inverse sines. Just use this. On some other calculators, like the one that comes with Microsoft Windows, you have to enter 5/13 first, then hit "Inv" and hit the "sin" button to get the inverse sine.

Likewise, you can set up expressions for A and B using cosines or tangents, and use your calculators "cos^-1" or "tan^-1" buttons to find these. If your trig is correct, you could get the same A value and the same B value no matter which way to go about it.

Answer 2

Do your own math but here is the WAY to get the answer. The angles are in proportion to the sides. So, let's say one angle is 90 degrees, as you said. The other 2 MUST add up to 90 degrees, exactly. If the two adjacent sides are equal in length, to each other, then each angle will be 45 degrees. If one side is, say, 2 times the length of the other side, then one angle will be 2 times the other (30 degrees and 60 degrees). And so on.

Answer 3

you have to use trigonemetric ratios: tangent cosine or sine
tangent of an angle is adjacent over opposite
cosine of an angle is adjacent over hypotenuse
sine of an angle is opposite over hypotenuse
soh cah toa
to solve this you have to take the inverse of one of these ratios since you know the sides not the angle

tan inverse of 13/12 which is about 47 degrees

Answer 4

TAN-1(5/12) = approximately 22.6 degress