Solving Problems Involving the Tangent Ratio with a Table

Lesson 1: The Tangent Ratio: Solving Problems Involving the Tangent Ratio with a Table

   Constructing Knowledge

The table you were introduced to earlier shows the tangent of various angles. The table can be interpreted as tan 5° = 0.09, tan 10° = 0.18, etc.

θ	\(\frac{\text{length opposite}\,\theta}{\text{length adjacent to}\,\theta}\) ratio (approximate values, rounded to the nearest hundredth)	tan θ (approximate values, rounded to the nearest hundredth)
5°	0.09	0.09
10°	0.18	0.18
15°	0.27	0.27
20°	0.36	0.36
25°	0.47	0.47
30°	0.58	0.58
35°	0.70	0.70
40°	0.84	0.84
45°	1	1
50°	1.19	1.19
55°	1.43	1.43
60°	1.73	1.73
65°	2.14	2.14
70°	2.75	2.75
75°	3.73	3.73
80°	5.67	5.67
85°	11.43	11.43

2014 © Alberta Distance Learning Centre