Discussion about math, puzzles, games and fun.   Useful symbols: ÷ × ½ √ ∞ ≠ ≤ ≥ ≈ ⇒ ± ∈ Δ θ ∴ ∑ ∫ • π ƒ -¹ ² ³ °

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bob bundy
2013-12-10 06:17:09

#### some careless poster wrote:

What was I talking about ?  Obviously you didn't want the angle, rather the cosine of the angle; so yes, please reverse the sign to get the third quadrant value.  Sorry.    Please pretend I said this in post 2.

Bob

bobbym
2013-12-10 04:26:26

Hi;

Yes, because of  π ≤ θ ≤ 3π/2.

From the graph you should try the negative of my answer.

anonimnystefy
2013-12-10 04:20:49

Try the negative answer, i.e., -0.725900241...

steveyi
2013-12-10 04:16:02

#### bobbym wrote:

Hi;

Using the most famous trig identity known ( already given to you in post #1 ) you can get one answer right away.

round to 4 digits .7259

tan(x) you can do.

bobbym
2013-12-10 02:55:43

Hi;

Using the most famous trig identity known ( already given to you in post #1 ) you can get one answer right away.

round to 4 digits .7259

tan(x) you can do.

bob bundy
2013-12-09 19:43:12

hi steveyi

Welcome to the forum.

There are formulas connecting sin, cos and tan:

but, as you've got these decimal forms that means you'd have to use a calculator anyway so why not

(i) use a calc. to get theta

(ii) Your calc. will give a negative value so reverse the sign, then cos theta in the range 0 to pi/2

(iii) As tan is positive in the third the value your calc. gives will be the one.

http://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/trig- … rants.html

Because trig functions are multi-valued and a calculator will only give one answer, you'll always have to do a bit of this to get the values in the right quadrant.

Bob

steveyi
2013-12-09 18:17:38

Actually just one question

3. If sin(θ)=−0.6878 and π≤θ≤3π/2, approximate the following to four decimal places.

(a) cos(θ) =  (Round to four decimal places.)
(b) tan(θ) =  (Round to four decimal places.)

It's looking for an answer to (a) and (b). Im completely confused on this problem , dont know what to do.