Math Calculators, Lessons and Formulas

It is time to solve your math problem

mathportal.org

Right triangle calculator

Enter two values of a right triangle and select what to find.
The calculator gives you a step-by-step guide on how to find the missing value.
show help ↓↓ examples ↓↓ tutorial ↓↓
The missing value is:
Provide any two values of a right triangle
calculator works with decimals, fractions and square roots (to input $ \color{blue}{\sqrt{2}} $ type $\color{blue}{\text{r2}} $)
leg
$ a $ =
 
leg
$ b $ =
hypotenuse
$ c $ =
 
angle
$ \alpha $ =
angle
$ \beta $ =
 
area
$ A $ =
 

New service on Mathportal

You can hire our experts to do your math homework.

We provide complete, handwritten, step-by-step solutions.

Get a free quote
working...
Right triangle formulas
$$ A = \frac{a \cdot b}{2} $$
area
$$ A = \frac{c \cdot c_h}{2} $$
area
$$ c^2 = a^2 + b^2 $$
Pythagorean theorem
$$ \sin\alpha = \frac{a}{c} $$
sin function
$$ \cos\alpha = \frac{b}{c} $$
cos function
$$ \tan\alpha = \frac{a}{b} $$
tan function
EXAMPLES
example 1:ex 1:
Find the hypotenuse of a right triangle in whose legs are $ a = 18~ cm $ and $ b = \dfrac{13}{2} cm $.
example 2:ex 2:
Find the angle $\alpha$ of a right triangle if hypotenuse $ c = 8~cm$ and leg $ a = 4~cm$.
example 3:ex 3:
Find the hypotenuse $ ~ c ~$ if $\alpha = 50^{\circ} $ and leg $ a = 8 $.
example 4:ex 4:
Find the area of a right triangle in which $\beta = 30^{\circ}$ and $b = \dfrac{5}{4} cm$
TUTORIAL

Right triangle calculations

The calculator uses the following formulas to find the missing values of a right triangle:

Pythagorean Theorem: $$ a^2 + b^2 = c^2 $$ right triangle
Area: $$ A = \frac{a b}{2} $$
Trig. functions: $$ \sin \alpha = \frac{a}{c} $$
  $$ \cos \alpha = \frac{b}{c} $$
  $$ \tan \alpha = \frac{a}{b} $$

Example 01 :

Find hypotenuse $ c $ of a right triangle if $ a = 4\,cm $ and $ b = 8\,cm $.

Solution:

When we know two sides, we use the Pythagorean theorem to find the third one.

$$ \begin{aligned} c^2 &= a^2 + b^2 \\[ 1 em] c^2 &= 4^2 + 8^2 \\[ 1 em] c^2 &= 16 + 64 \\[ 1 em] c^2 &= 80 \\[ 1 em] c &= \sqrt{80} \\[ 1 em] c &= \sqrt{16 \cdot 5} \\[ 1 em] c &= 4\sqrt{5}\\ \end{aligned} $$

Example 02 :

Find the angle $\alpha$ of a right triangle if hypotenuse $ c = 14~cm$ and leg $ a = 8~cm$.

Solution:

In order to find missing angle we can use the sine function

$$ \begin{aligned} \sin \alpha & = \frac{a}{c} \\[1 em] \sin \alpha & = \frac{8}{14} \\[1 em] \sin \alpha & = 0.5714 \\[1 em] \alpha &= \sin^{-1} (0.5714) \\[1 em] \alpha & \approx \, 39^{o} \end{aligned} $$
Search our database of more than 200 calculators
437 781 092 solved problems