How do you find #tan (pi/3)#?

Question

9309 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2014-10-24T22:00:27

Knowledge of special triangles is needed to solve this by hand.

#pi/3# is #180^circ/3=60^circ#

One of the special right triangles is #30^circ60^circ90^circ# where the sides have lengths with the following ratios.

#30^circ => x#
#60^circ => xsqrt(3)#
#90^circ => 2x#

If we let #x=1# then the side lengths are #1, sqrt(3), and 2# respectively.

#tan (theta) = (opposite)/(adjacent) = y/x#

#tan(pi/3)=sqrt(3)/1=sqrt(3)#