<p>So I'm trying to solve this trig problem on the NASA site. </p>
<p>I get everything up to where it says</p>
<p>170 cos(52*) = 104.6
* = degrees</p>
<p>How did they get that? I just typed 170 cos(52) into my calculator and got -27.71 </p>
<p>Problems</a> in Trigonometry</p>
<p>^ It's question no.2.
"An airplane is flying....." </p>
<p>Thanks! I really need help with that part. Or maybe it's just a stupid question, I don't know lol. Help!</p>
<p>Well, check your calculator is in degrees, or that you entered all the numbers correctly, because I got the same answer as them.</p>
<p>How do you get a TI-83 into degrees?</p>
<p>Press “mode” (right by the yellow 2nd button), then arrow down to where it says degrees and select it.</p>
<p>Also, if you think about it, 52 degrees is in the first quadrant, so it must be positive. Furthermore, it’s a bit under 60 degrees, so the answer should be a bit more than half the 170.</p>
<p>Did you actually arrow over on top of degrees before hitting select?</p>
<p>I hit…</p>
<p>Mode and saw this:</p>
<p>Normal Sci Eng
Float 0123456789
Radian Degree
Func Par Pol Seq
Connected Dot
Sequential Simul
Real a+bi re^0i
Full Horiz G-T </p>
<p>I arrowed down to the Radian Degree, and hit enter but it didn’t do anything.</p>
<p>I just arrowed down to where it blinked at “Radian” and then hit enter, and it didn’t do anything. </p>
<p>Then, I arrowed down to radian again, but then hit the right arrow so that it blinked at “degree” and then hit enter. It still didn’t do anything.</p>
<p>Well the second action you just described should have solved the problem… You’re still getting the same answer? And “degree” is highlighted in black when you check the menu screen?</p>
<p>Well most of them are highlighted in black. Right now as I’m looking at it, </p>
<p>Eng is highlighted in black
0 is highlighted in black
Degree is highlighted in black
Func is highlighted
Connected is highlighted
Sequential is highlighted
Real is highlighted
Full is highlighted </p>
<p>But I arrowed to “degree” and it’s blinking at degree. </p>
<p>I don’t know how to get rid of the black highlights on all the others though.</p>
<p>EDIT: Hey RyanMK are you good at Trigonometry? I have a couple of questions and would really appreciate any help! :)</p>
<p>Well, it doesn’t matter if the others are highlighted, as long as degree is, and radians is not, you should get the correct answer. And I suppose I’m decent at trig - I am planning on majoring in math after all.</p>
<p>I figured the calculator problem out. Lol it turns out that after I hit enter, if I just hit clear after that, it’s actually in degrees. </p>
<p>I’ll PM you :)</p>