Inverses of Trigonometric Ratios
Subject:
Algebra [1]
Inverses of Trigonometric Ratios
You've learned how to use trig ratios to solve right triangles, finding the lengths of the sides of triangles. But what if you have the sides, and need to find the angles? You know that you can take side lengths and find trig ratios, and you know you can find trig ratios (in your calculator) for angles. What is missing is a way to go from the ratios back to the original angles. And that is what "inverse trig" values are all about.
If you look at your calculator, you should see, right above the "SIN", "COS", "TAN" buttons, notations along the lines of "SIN–1", "COS–1", and "TAN–1", or possibly "ASIN", "ACOS", and "ATAN". These are what you'll use to find angles from ratios.