Explore It

SOHCAHTOA: A Robotic Arm Introduction Worksheet

Example: Imagine you have a robotic arm with an opposite side (vertical lift) of 4 cm and an adjacent side (horizontal distance) of 3 cm. You want to find the angle (θ) of the arm's joint.

1. Known sides: Opposite (4 cm) and Adjacent (3 cm).

2. Trig function: Use Tangent (TOA) because you have the opposite and adjacent sides.

3. Equation: tan(θ)=4/3

4. Inverse function: θ=tan-1(4/3)

5. Calculate: θ≈53.13°

So, the angle of the robotic arm's joint would be approximately 53.13°

Checklist

• I read each scenario.

• I chose the correct trig function (sine, cosine, tangent) for each scenario.

• I checked my answers for reasonableness (does my answer make sense?).

• I wrote a short note: “I used ___ because I knew ___ and wanted to find ___.”