applying trigonometric ratios

Question

Louie is trying to find a rectangular canvas for his art project. Its width must measure 20 inches and form a 35° angle with the diagonal of the canvas. What is the height of the canvas? Round your answer to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

The diagonal is the hypotenuse of a right triangle, The other 2 sides are the height and width.

Since the angle is given between the hypotenuse and the width, the width is the "adjacent" side of the angle.

This means the height is the "opposite" side.

So:

tan (35⁰) = opposite / adjacent = height / 20

Solve this for the height.....

For any problem like this, DRAW A PICTURE