Question

Angle 1 is a complement of angle 2. Angle 1 measures 23 degrees. How large is angle 2?

Answer 1

67°

Explanation:

Two angles are said to be complimentary if they add to 90°

So, when one is 23°, the complimentary angle must be 67°.

Answer 2

Using the definition of complementary angles and a little bit of algebra, we get that `m/_2 = 67^o`.

Explanation:

Well, we know that angle 1 measures `23^o`, and is complement to angle 2.

Remember that two angles are said to be complement if they form (or, visually add up to) a right angle, and a right angle measures `90^o`. Let's represent this algebraically:

`m/_1 + m/_2 = 90^o`

And try to solve for angle 2. We know that `m/_1 = 23^o`:

`23^o + m/_2 = 90^o`

We could subtract both sides by `23^o`:

`23^o + m/_2 - 23^o = 90^o - 23^o`:

`m/_2 = 67^o`

Therefore, given that angle 1 measures 23 degrees and complements angle 2, then angle 2 must measure 67 degrees.