Find the length of the adjacent

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The discussion revolves around solving a trigonometry problem involving a right triangle with a given angle and side length. The user calculated the length of the adjacent side XY using the tangent function but received incorrect feedback from the website. It was suggested that the website might require the answer to three significant decimal places, leading to a more precise value of 4.109. The user confirmed their calculations were correct and expressed satisfaction with their understanding of the process. The conversation highlights the importance of significant figures in mathematical answers.
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I have been practising trig on the bb bitesize maths website. It keeps telling me that I have given the wrong answer to the following problem.
Draw a triangle XYZ with Y being a right angle. The angle at X is 42 degrees and the length of YZ is 3.7cm.
The question requires you to find the length of XY (the adjacent side) to 3 s.f.
I did the calculation tan42 = 3.7/XY and came up with a length of 4.11cm. I also tried 4.10cm (without rounding up), but according to the website both answers are wrong.
Can anyone tell me where I am going wrong?
Thanks
 
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It could be that the website is looking for an answer with three significant decimal places, which would be 4.109. My calculator gives the length of the adjacent side as 4.109266305 (cm). To 3 significant figures, this would be 4.11 cm.
 
Thanks a lot Mark. As long as I know I did the right calulation I'm happy!
 

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