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You can choose either or but tangent which is sin/cos seems to be the most common way.

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Q: How do you know when to use sine over cosine or cosine over sine?
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Where to use sine and cosine in physics?

The sine, cosine and tangent are used to find the degrees of a right angle triangle.


Do you need a right traingle to use sine cosine and tangent?

Yes, sine, cosine, tangent definitions are based on right triangles


What jobs use sine cosine and tangent?

Trigonometry


How do you know when to use tangent cosine or sine?

It depends on what information you already have. For example, if you know the length of two sides of a triangle, you can easily find the tangent. Or, if you know the length of two angles and a side, you can find the other sides as well, using the tangent, cosine, and sine as needed.


How do you find 2 missing sides of a right triangle?

Two methods to try . #1 Use pythagoras h^ = a^2 + a^2 NB THis is only good if you know that the two unknown sides are the same length. #2 Use trigonometry (trig.) This is good if you know the hypotenuse and one of the angles. Sine(angle) = opposite/ hypotenuse Hence opposite side = hypotenuse X sine(angle) Similarly Cosine(angle) = adjacent / hypotenuse. adjacent side = hypotenuse X Cosine(angle) Here is an example If you known the hypotenuse is a length of '6' and the angle is 30 degrees. Then opposite = 6 X Sin(30) opposite = 6 x 0.5 = 3 So the length of the oppisute sides is '3' units. NB DO NOT make the mistakes of saying Sin(6 X 30) = Sin(180) Nor 6 x 30 , nor Sin(6) X 30 , nor any other combination. You MUST find the SINE of the angle , then multiply it to the given length. Similarly for Cosine and Tangent.


How do you find the length of a side in a triangle that is not a right triangle?

Use either the Sine or Cosine rules depending on the information you know about the triangle.


How do you figure the base of a triangle when you know the dimension of the other two sides?

If it is a right triangle, you can use the Pythagorean Theorem. If you know the angle measures, you can use cosine/sine/tangent.


When to use sin and cos.?

The sine and cosine were originally developed for use in surveying. They provided a way to measure the distance across lakes and around mountains. Soon they were found to be useful in navigation. The sine was used to calculate pi. When electrical measurements were made, the sine law was used. If you want to know when to use the sine and when to use the cosine, you will need to get a trig book, a physics book, an astronomy book, a sailing book, and a few other books and read them all.


Does acoustics use trigonometry?

Yes, because all sound waves can be modelled as sine (or cosine) waves, or combinations of sine waves.


How do you find theta for right triangle?

You can use your trigonometric functions (sine, cosine, and tangent).


What does cosine pair 80 degrees with and how do you get it?

sine 10. Use the cofunction with the complementary angle.


How do you solve for a triangle with two angles but no lengths?

you can use the sine, cosine, tangent formula.