Worked example 1 Find the length of the unknown side in each triangle. Give your answers to one decimal place.
(i) x (ii) Strategy: 40 m 14° 5.6 m 46° y
'We have … We have … We want …'
Solution (i)
We have: We have: We want:
(ii)
We have: We have: We want:
To fi nd the measure of an angle If we are given two sides of a right-angled triangle, we can use sin-1
Finding a missing angle Label the sides of the triangle: hypotenuse, opposite, adjacent.
1
2 3 4 5
Write down the names of the two sides ‘we have’ and the angle ‘we want’. Decide which ratio to use, depending on the sides identifi ed in Step 2. Form an equation by substituting the angle required and the sides identifi ed in Step 2. Solve the equation to fi nd the unknown angle.