CHAPTER 9: TRIGONOMETRY

Lesson 1
Review of Trig

Triangles are all around us. To start you thinking about where triangles are, here
are some examples. Can you think of any other triangles around you?

Take some time to think of some other triangles around you.

Chapter 4: Trigonometry
Lesson 1

1. How many triangles can you count in Figure 1?

2. How many right angle triangles can you count in Figure 1?

right angle triangle: a three-sided object with a 90 angle

3. How many triangles can you count in Figure 2?

4. How many right angle triangles are in Figure 2?

5. Why are homes built with so many triangles? What other structures are built
with triangles?
6. Did anyone find more triangles than you did?

a. Who do you think is right?

b. Look again at the figures. Can you find more triangles after talking with
someone else?
To begin, the question needs to be "What is a right angle triangle
anyway", followed closely behind by "and why does it matter?"
What is a right angle triangle anyway

A right angle triangle is a three-sided object

(triangle) with a 90 angle. Another way to
describe a 90 angle is as a perfectly square
corner. In diagrams, a 90 angle is represented
by a square. A right angle triangle is also called
a "right triangle".

and why does it matter?

This is a more difficult question to answer, but look around to find that
triangles and right triangles are very common. There must be something
important about them.
One of the many important uses of triangles is to provide strength.
Triangles are strong? Why? A force applied on any corner or side of the
triangle is shared around the entire triangle. To show this, look at the
example below:
Scenario 1: No Brace
If you have a rectangle and you push in on one of the corners, the
rectangle will squish.

Scenario 2: With a Brace

If you add a brace diagonally in the rectangle, what do you notice about
the shapes present? There are now two triangles! If you push on the
same corner, this time the rectangle will not move. The force is being
shared throughout the structure. This is why triangles are used for
bridges, roofs, and many other things.

The bonus of right triangles is that we can find a lot of extra information
from just one right triangle, including angles and lengths of sides.
Before we go any further, you need to review the parts of a right triangle.
By definition, a right triangle has a 90 angle at one corner. The other
two angles in the right triangle will be less than 90 and are called acute
angles. The side across from the 90 angle is called the hypotenuse.
Note that the hypotenuse is the longest side of the right triangle. The two
other sides, or legs, of the triangle can be named the opposite side or
the adjacent side depending upon what angle you are focusing on.
When you choose one of the acute angles, the side opposite it is called
the opposite side (so clever!). The side beside the angle is called the
adjacent side. Adjacent means "beside" (again, clever!).
acute angle: an angle less than 90
hypotenuse: the longest side in a right triangle and across from the 90
angle (hyp for short)
opposite side: the side across from an acute angle in a right triangle
(opp for short)
adjacent side: the side beside an acute angle in a right triangle, but not
the hypotenuse (adj for short)
Label the following pieces of a right triangle using the labelled angle, A.
a square for the 90 angle
opp for the opposite side
adj for the adjacent side
hyp for the hypotenuse

Place your cursor over the right triangle to view the answer.

You will remember that in Math 10-3 you learned about the Pythagorean
Theorem. Can you remember the formula?
To remind you, here is the triangle it is based upon:

Has it come back yet?

OK, I'll give it to you!
Put this formula into your formula booklet under Chapter 9,
Pythagorean Theorem.

Remember that c is
always the hypotenuse!

One more important piece of information to recall about triangles is that

the sum of all the angles in a triangle is 180. As an equation, this
looks like the following:

Examples of Pythagoras and sum of angles in a triangle.

https://www.mathsisfun.com/pythagoras.html
Also,

http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/mejhm/index.html?
l=0&ID1=AB.MATH.JR.SHAP&ID2=AB.MATH.JR.SHAP.PYTH&
lesson=html/video_interactives/pythagoras/pythagorasSm
all.html