How do you evaluate cos^-1 0.8217?

2 Answers

\cos^{-1}(0.8217)=34.745^\circ

Explanation:

One can compute cos^{-1}(0.8217) using calculator

\cos^{-1}(0.8217)=34.745^\circ

Jul 15, 2018

34.7° or 325.3°

Explanation:

The question can be read as ..

"What angle has a cos value of 0.8217?"

If you just need an angle in a right-angled triangle, then on a scientific calculator you would key in:

shift/alt/2nd F" "cos^-1 0.8217 = to get an angle of 34.7°

However, if you want to include angles from 0° to 360° then we need to consider the sign and decide which quadrants we are working in.

Cos is positive in the first 1st and 4th quadrants

The angle in the 1st quadrant is 34.7° obtained as explained above,

The angle in the 4th quadrant is 360-34.7°= 325.3°