The cosine function is one of the trigonometric formulas that you can use to solve for a missing side length in a right triangle. The cosine formula is:
The three variables in the formula are theta, adjacent, and hypotenuse. Typically you will be given 2 out of the 3 variables and you will solve for the other missing variable.
Example 1: Solve for the missing side length.
Example 2: Solve for the missing side length.
Example 3: Solve for the missing side length.
Example 4: Solve for the missing side length.
Example 5: Solve for the missing side length.
Let's try a few example problems:
Example 2:
Example 3:
