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How Do You Find a Missing Side of a Right Triangle Using Sine?

Find the length of side 'a' in the triangle shown in the diagram.

Summary

  1. Angle A is 64 degrees
  2. The hypotenuse is 15
  3. The side we're looking for, a, is the side opposite of the angle A
  4. The ratio for sine uses the opposite side and the hypotenuse, so we need to use sine!
  5. The sine of 64˚ is approximately 0.8988

Notes

    1. The sine of an angle is the ratio of opposite side of the triangle to the hypotenuse of the triangle