Co-Authored By:
The calculation is simply one side of a right angled triangle divided by another side we just have to know which sides, and that is where "sohcahtoa" helps.
Sine, Cosine and Tangent.
Sine, Cosine and Tangent.
| Sine: | soh | sin(θ) = opposite / hypotenuse |
|---|---|---|
| Tangent: | toa | tan(θ) = opposite / adjacent |
Also question is, how do you know when to use Sin Cos or tan?
If you have the hypotenuse and the opposite side, then use sine. If you have the hypotenuse and the adjacent side, then use cosine. If you have the adjacent and the opposite sides, then use tangent.
Furthermore, how do you remember Sin Cos Tan?
An alternate way to remember the letters for Sin, Cos, and Tan is to memorize the nonsense syllables Oh, Ah, Oh-Ah (i.e. /o? ? ˈo?. ?/) for O/H, A/H, O/A. Or, to remember all six functions, Sin, Cos, Tan, Cot, Sec, and Csc, memorize the syllables O/H, A/H, Oh/Ah, Ah/Oh, H/A, H/O (i.e. /o? ? ˈo?.
Example
- Step 1 The two sides we know are Opposite (300) and Adjacent (400).
- Step 2 SOHCAHTOA tells us we must use Tangent.
- Step 3 Calculate Opposite/Adjacent = 300/400 = 0.75.
- Step 4 Find the angle from your calculator using tan-1