Trig Questions.

[RevBrown]

I have this trig problem due tommorrow and I have no idea where to start.
Can I get a couple of math wizes to help please?



You are building a house and need to construct stairs. The stairs need to be at a 35 degree angle and go to the second floor which is 10 feet high. How far away from the wall will the bottom of the stairs be and how long will the board the stairs are built into be? Then we need to cut stairs into the 2"x12"x24 foot long board that we purchased for our stairs. If we are told that the stairs neeed to have 11 inches of run and 8 inches of rise, what angle will we need to cut into the wood from each side and how many stairs will be cut?



Please oh please oh please tell me how you got your answer I am lost with this stuff.

[Muzikman]

Hint:

Pythagoras Theorem

EDIT:

I'll help you out a little more.

TAN B = AC / CB

AC^2 = AB^2 - CB^2

Those are the forumlas for figuring out the sides of the triangle.

[gibby]

This helped me out tremendously too

SOH CAH TOA

SOH -----> Sine = Opposite/Hypotenuse

CAH -----> Cosine = Adjacent/Hypotenuse

TOA -----> Tangent = Opposite/Adjacent

Easy to remember right?

(Note: The diagram below is supposed to be a triangle.)

|\
| \
| \
| \
|__0 \

0 - being theta(the angle given)

Opposite is the side opposite theta
Adjacent is the side that is perpendicular to Opposite
Hypotenuse is the other side of theta

To answer your first question...if you wanted to find the length(in this case the base)...you'd use TOA because based off your information, that is the best one to use.

You can find the tangent of theta
You've got the height
Do your algebra

Adjacent = Opposite/Tan

Adjacent = 10ft/Tan(35*)
You can solve the rest. Good luck!

[gimp]

haha. Wow. I still use sohcahtoa. That's probably the most valueble thing I learned in high school math classes.

[RevBrown]

Thanks guys
We'll see how this goes in an hour.