What is the degree measure of x in this triangle? Round only your final answer to the nearest hundredth.

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A. .01

B. 33.49

C. .55

D. 40.01

1 Answer
May 26, 2017

B, 33.49

Explanation:

We know the side lengths of the opposite side and the hypotenuse, so we need a trigonometric function to relate the two.

sin(theta) = "opposite"/"hypotenuse" works well in this case.

Now all we need to do is plug in everything we know, theta is x, opposite is the opposite side length, or 32, and hypotenuse is the long triangle side, or 58.
So:

sin(x) = 32/58 We will use an inverse trigonometric function to get the angle:
arcsin(32/58) = x

After this we need a calculator, after plugging it into mine I get the answer is about answer B, 33.49.