High School Math : How to find an angle in a right triangle

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for High School Math

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Example Questions

Example Question #1 :How To Find An Angle In A Right Triangle

Acute angles x and y are inside a right triangle. If x is four less than one third of 21, what is y?

Possible Answers:

87

3

90

18

7

Correct answer:

87

Explanation:

We know that the sum of all the angles must be 180 and we already know one angle is 90, leaving the sum of x and y to be 90.

Solve for x to find y.

One third of 21 is 7. Four less than 7 is 3. So if angle x is 3 then that leaves 87 for angle y.

例子问题# 21:Geometry

If a right triangle has one leg with a length of 4 and a hypotenuse with a length of 8, what is the measure of the angle between the hypotenuse and its other leg?

Possible Answers:

65

90

45

60

30

Correct answer:

30

Explanation:

The first thing to notice is that this is a 30o:60o:90otriangle. If you draw a diagram, it is easier to see that the angle that is asked for corresponds to the side with a length of 4. This will be the smallest angle. The correct answer is 30.

Example Question #3 :Triangles

Triangle

In the figure above, what is the positive difference, in degrees, between the measures of angleACBand angleCBD?

Possible Answers:

20

10

40

30

50

Correct answer:

10

Explanation:

In the figure above, angleADBis a right angle. Because sideACis a straight line, angleCDBmust also be a right angle.

Let’s examine triangleADB. The sum of the measures of the three angles must be 180 degrees, and we know that angleADBmust be 90 degrees, since it is a right angle. We can now set up the following equation.

x+y+ 90 = 180

Subtract 90 from both sides.

x+y= 90

Next, we will look at triangleCDB. We know that angleCDBis also 90 degrees, so we will write the following equation:

y– 10 + 2x– 20 + 90 = 180

y+ 2x+ 60 = 180

Subtract 60 from both sides.

y+ 2x= 120

We have a system of equations consisting ofx+y= 90 andy+ 2x= 120. We can solve this system by solving one equation in terms ofxand then substituting this value into the second equation. Let’s solve foryin the equationx+y= 90.

x+y= 90

Subtractxfrom both sides.

y= 90 –x

Next, we can substitute 90 –xinto the equationy+ 2x= 120.

(90 –x) + 2x= 120

90 +x= 120

x= 120 – 90 = 30

x= 30

Sincey= 90 –x,y= 90 – 30 = 60.

The question ultimately asks us to find the positive difference between the measures ofACBandCBD. The measure ofACB= 2x– 20 = 2(30) – 20 = 40 degrees. The measure ofCBD=y– 10 = 60 – 10 = 50 degrees. The positive difference between 50 degrees and 40 degrees is 10.

The answer is 10.

Example Question #1 :How To Find An Angle In A Right Triangle

Rt_triangle_lettersIf angleand angle, what is the value for angle?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

For this problem, remember that the sum of the degrees in a triangle is.

That means that.

Plug in our given values to solve:

Subtractfrom both sides:

Example Question #4 :Triangles

Which of the following sets of line-segment lengths can form a triangle?

Possible Answers:

2,3,5

5,12,13

10,15,25

5,12,17

7,9,16

Correct answer:

5,12,13

Explanation:

In any given triangle, the sum of any two sides is greater than the third. The incorrect answers have the sum of two sides equal to the third.

Example Question #1 :Right Triangles

In right\Delta ABC,\angle ABC=2xand\angle BCA= \frac{x}{2}.

What is the value ofx?

Possible Answers:

48

30

24

32

36

Correct answer:

36

Explanation:

There are 180 degrees in every triangle. Since this triangle is a right triangle, one of the angles measures 90 degrees.

Therefore,90 + 2x + \frac{x}{2}= 180.

90=2.5x

x=36

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