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Trigonometry For Dummies, 3rd Edition
book

Trigonometry For Dummies, 3rd Edition

by Mary Jane Sterling
March 2023
Beginner content levelBeginner
400 pages
9h 38m
English
For Dummies
Content preview from Trigonometry For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Chapter 5

Tackling Right Triangles

IN THIS CHAPTER

Bullet Examining right triangles

Bullet Solving for lengths with Pythagoras’s Theorem

Bullet Defining special right triangles that make life easier

Triangles are classified in many ways; one way of distinguishing one triangle from another is to use angle measurements. Because a 90-degree angle is called a right angle, you use the same terminology to describe a triangle with a right angle in it. This type of triangle is called a right triangle. And that’s all right.

The measures of the sides of right triangles are used to determine the values of the trig functions. And those trig functions (along with the right triangles) are really handy when it comes to solving problems such as, “Just how high is that tree?” The special properties of a right triangle — some credited with Pythagoras — make them very useful in trigonometry and other math areas.

Sizing Up Right Triangles

If you’re looking at their angles, triangles can be right, acute, or obtuse. Right triangles contain a right angle; acute triangles only have acute angles; and obtuse triangles have that one obtuse angle — makes sense! Right triangles have been of great interest to humankind for centuries. ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781394168552Purchase Link