How do you get tan 60?

1 Answer
Alan P.
Oct 19, 2015

tan(60^@) = sqrt(3)

Explanation:

Consider the equilateral triangle below:
enter image source here
with sides of length 2 by bisecting the upper angle we get a right-angled triangle with sides (1, sqrt(3), 2) (the length sqrt(3) is calculated using the Pythagorean Theorem)

By definition tan = ("length of opposite side")/("length of adjacent side")

In this case
color(white)("XXX")tan(60^@) = sqrt(3)/1

Related questions
See all questions in Trigonometric Functions of Any Angle
Impact of this question
4136 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License