HELP with math hw?

Question

A 5 foot wire attached to the top of the tent pole reaches a stake in the ground 3 feet from the foot of the pole. Find to the nearest degree the measure of the angle made by the wire with the ground.

Please show me and thank you!

If it is cosine, then why?

Answer 1

Draw it.

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OK, you get a triangle that looks like that. The hypotenuse of the triangle is 5 feet. The bottom leg (the shorter one) is 3 feet. And you are looking for the angle that the 3 foot leg makes with the 5 foot hypotenuse, so you are looking for the angle on the right of the right angle.

SOH CAH TOA
Sine - opposite / hypotenuse
Cosine - adjacent / hypotenuse
Tangent - opposite / adjacent

Which sides do you have in relation to the angle you are looking for? You know the side adjacent to the angle, and the hypotenuse, so use cosine.

cosx = 3/5

In your calculator, do the inverse cosine, which will look like cos^-1 of 3/5.

That will give you the value of x.

Answer 2

It is helpful to draw the situation out and label the info you know.

The hypotenuse of the wire is 5 feet. The adjacent side of the angle you need is 3 feet.

Cosine = adjacent/hypotenuse. To find the angle you need to take the inverse of cosine multiplied by 3/5.

cos(inverse) 3/5 = 53.13 degree's


You must take the inverse of the angle to find out what the angle is.

Answer 3

the pole is 4 foot tall a right triangle with sides 3,4,5 is a standard right triangle.

cosine is the side adjacent divided by the hypotenuse

3/5 = I think thats 53 degrees to the nearest degree

Answer 4

Your hypotenuse is 5 feet. Your 'adjacent side' is 3 feet.

SOHCAHTOA

You need arccos(x) = 3/5
x = 53.13 degrees (or 53, to the nearest degree)

Answer 5

60 degrees