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## loser123456789 Group Title I am really stuck someone help one year ago one year ago

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1. loser123456789 Group Title

Find the value of x. Round to the nearest tenth. The diagram is not drawn to scale.

2. valentinekid Group Title

Trigonometric functions are Sin, Cos, and Tan defined as: Sin=opposite/hypotenuse Cos=adjacent/hypotenuse Tan=opposite/adjacent Which of these three is best suited for the diagram? (which pieces do you know?)

3. loser123456789 Group Title

sin?

4. valentinekid Group Title

Cos, because we know the length of the leg adjacent to our angle(11) and we want to find the hypotenuse. So to solve this we setup the problem as follows: $\cos(24)=\frac{11}{x}$

5. valentinekid Group Title

then we solve for x, right?...

6. valentinekid Group Title

Yeah, we move x over to the other side by multiplying both sides by x. What happens when you evaluate: $x(\cos(24))=(\frac{11}{x})*x$

7. valentinekid Group Title

Yes, but be careful when multiplying trig functions. cos(24x) is very different from cos(24)*x or x*cos(24). So we have x*cos(24)=11. How do we get x by itself?

8. valentinekid Group Title

Multiply what by both sides? we have $x*\cos(24)=11$ How do get x by itself?

9. valentinekid Group Title

What should we divide by?

10. valentinekid Group Title

24 is a part of the cos function, so they're tied together. Divide by cos(24) and what do you end up with?

11. valentinekid Group Title

Not quite. $\frac{1}{\cos(24)}*x*\cos(24)=11*\frac{1}{\cos(24)}$

12. valentinekid Group Title

It's okay. What happens when we simplify that expression? Can we cancel anything out?

13. valentinekid Group Title

Yes! Exactly. The cos(24) cancels out on the left leaving us with x=11/cos(24).

14. valentinekid Group Title

Mmhmm. If you're allowed a calculator or you're asked to give an actual number, just evaluate in your calculator and you get 12.04, rounded. If you're just asked to find x, I would say leave it exact in the form of 11/cos(24)

15. valentinekid Group Title

Yeah, just post another question and tag me in a comment.

16. valentinekid Group Title

New question. Where it says "ask a question..."