Geometry- Please help!

Question

anonymous · Answer

Look at the triangle.
 
What is the value of cos x°?

anonymous · Answer

Cosine means "adjacent divided by hypotenuse."  What is the adjacent side in relation to x?  What is the hypotenuse?  What do you get when you divide one by the other?

anonymous · Answer

So it would just be 8/17?  (I would divide it, but all the answer options are  "blank" divided by "blank"

anonymous · Answer

Adjacent means "next to" or "touching".  Opposite means "across from" or "not touching".  If there was a giant triangle drawn on the ground, and you were standing where "x" is, the adjacent side would be the one with the 15 and the opposite side would be the one with the 8 (the hypotenuse is always the hypotenuse...the longest side).

So it's not 8/17, it's 15/17.  8/17 would actually be the *sine* of x, because sine means "opposite divided by hypotenuse".

anonymous · Answer

Thanks! That really helped! :)