Question

The picture below shows a right-triangle-shaped charging stand for a gaming system:

The side face of a charging stand is a right triangle labeled ABC. The measure of angle ACB is 90 degrees and the measure of angle ABC is 50 degrees. Side B C measures 3 inches.

Which expression shows the height, AC, of the charging stand?

3 divided by cos 50 degrees
3 tan 50°
3 divided by tan 50 degrees
3 cos 50°

Answer 1

notice you are given the angle, and the adjacent side, then asked to find the opposite side

which trig ratio (sin, cos, or tan) involves the adjacent and opposite sides?

Answer 2

would it be COS?

Answer 3

wait no, TAN

Answer 4

good, tan

so tan = opposite/adjacent

plugging in the values gives us

tan(50) = AC/3

solve for AC

Answer 5

Would it be 25.17298894
so I would round that to 25.17?

Answer 6

notice how the answer choices are given in terms of the trig ratios so you don't need to use a calculator to figure out the decimal value

tan(50) = AC/3

you just need to multiply both sides by 3 and then see which answer choice matches

Answer 7

so B. 3 tan 50°?

Answer 8

good

Answer 9

because you would multiply them to move the 30 to the other side

Answer 10

Yay thank you!