SOH CAH TOA is the basic trick you need to know for trigonometry. Trigonometry deals with:
-SINE (nickname: sin)
-COSINE (nickname: cos)
-TANGENT (nickname: tan)
The nicknames are most commonly used when solving for a triangle's sin, cos, or tan.
-SINE (nickname: sin)
-COSINE (nickname: cos)
-TANGENT (nickname: tan)
The nicknames are most commonly used when solving for a triangle's sin, cos, or tan.
As you can see in the SOH CAH TOA picture, each letter corresponds to something. This triangle image shows you what this means. You look from the perspective of the angle you want to solve for, and the side farthest away is the OPPOSITE, the hypotenuse is the HYPOTENUSE, and the other side closest to the angle is the ADJACENT. Then, you solve with the equations this picture gives you.