Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
In geometry, a hypotenuse is the side of a right triangle opposite the right angle. [1] It is the longest side of any such triangle; the two other shorter sides of such a triangle are called catheti or legs. The length of the hypotenuse can be found using the Pythagorean theorem, which states that the square of the length of the hypotenuse equals
Let ABC be a triangle with side lengths a, b, and c, with a 2 + b 2 = c 2. Construct a second triangle with sides of length a and b containing a right angle. By the Pythagorean theorem, it follows that the hypotenuse of this triangle has length c = √ a 2 + b 2, the same as the hypotenuse of the first triangle.
A right triangle ABC with its right angle at C, hypotenuse c, and legs a and b,. A right triangle or right-angled triangle, sometimes called an orthogonal triangle or rectangular triangle, is a triangle in which two sides are perpendicular, forming a right angle (1 ⁄ 4 turn or 90 degrees).
Given triangle sides b and c and angle γ there are sometimes two solutions for a. The theorem is used in solution of triangles , i.e., to find (see Figure 3): the third side of a triangle if two sides and the angle between them is known: c = a 2 + b 2 − 2 a b cos γ ; {\displaystyle c={\sqrt {a^{2}+b^{2}-2ab\cos \gamma }}\,;}
A side, the angle opposite to it and an angle adjacent to it (AAS). For all cases in the plane, at least one of the side lengths must be specified. If only the angles are given, the side lengths cannot be determined, because any similar triangle is a solution.
The angle opposite the leg of length 1 (this angle can be labeled φ = π/2 − θ) has cotangent equal to the length of the other leg, and cosecant equal to the length of the hypotenuse. In that way, this trigonometric identity involving the cotangent and the cosecant also follows from the Pythagorean theorem.
Trigonometric functions specify the relationships between side lengths and interior angles of a right triangle. For example, the sine of angle θ is defined as being the length of the opposite side divided by the length of the hypotenuse. The six trigonometric functions are defined for every real number, except, for some of them, for angles ...
In the following definitions, the hypotenuse is the side opposite to the 90-degree angle in a right triangle; it is the longest side of the triangle and one of the two sides adjacent to angle A. The adjacent leg is the other side that is adjacent to angle A. The opposite side is the side that is opposite to angle A.