1. Trigonometry-quetion of method

When ever we are trying to find an unknown angle of a right-agled triangle we use trigonometry eg.

sin angle a=8/14
=0.571428571
sin-10.57148571
=34.84990455

And at this point I am not sure whether it is mandatory to round it to two decimal places eg. in this problem it would become 34.85; and then find the degrees, minutes and seconds or do we just leave it as it is then find the degrees, minutes, seconds?

I am concerned about this because I am not sure how problems such as this will be solved or corrected under test conditions. All help is appreciated...thx

2. Originally Posted by Mr Rayon
When ever we are trying to find an unknown angle of a right-agled triangle we use trigonometry eg.

sin angle a=8/14
=0.571428571
sin-10.57148571
=34.84990455

And at this point I am not sure whether it is mandatory to round it to two decimal places eg. in this problem it would become 34.85; and then find the degrees, minutes and seconds or do we just leave it as it is then find the degrees, minutes, seconds?

I am concerned about this because I am not sure how problems such as this will be solved or corrected under test conditions. All help is appreciated...thx
If you are going to break it down to degrees, minutes, and seconds then don't round it before you do that. Rounding before you split the angle will give you errors in your final answer. Round after you have done this procedure.

For example,
$34.849904579046^o = 34^o~50'~59.66"$
and
$34.85^o = 34^o~51'$

Close, but not quite the same.

-Dan

3. Conclusion

Thought that was the right thing to do...thanks for the confirmation. I'm afraid my math textbook was to blame for my doubt.