Given Tangent, Find Angle

Date: 7/2/96 at 19:43:18
From: Anonymous
Subject: Find Angle Given Tangent

If given:

tan y=3n/4n

How do I find the value of y?

Date: 7/2/96 at 21:56:47
From: Doctor Robert
Subject: Re: Find Angle Given Tangent

WEll, first of all, if tan y = 3n/4n, then tan y = 3/4 = .75.  One 
cannot really solve this algebraically, so we invent an inverse 
function called the arctan function.  y = arctan .75, that is, y is 
the angle or number whose tangent is .75.  If you have a calculator 
that has trig functions on it you can easily find the values.  If you 
work in degrees, arctan .75=36.87 degrees. If you work in radians, 
arctan .75 = .6435 radians. Hope that this helps.

-Doctor Robert,  The Math Forum
 Check out our web site!  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/