Lesson Plan: The Tangent Ratio Mathematics • 11th Grade

This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to find missing lengths and angles in a triangle using the tangent ratios.

Objectives

Students will be able to

use right triangles to find tangent ratios,
use special right triangles to find the tangent ratios for , , and ,
use the tangent ratio to find missing lengths in right triangles,
use the inverse tangent ratio to find missing angle measures in right triangles,
solve more complex problems, such as using the tangent ratio or inverse tangent ratio in combination with the Pythagorean theorem, simple 2D shape properties, or coordinate geometry.

Prerequisites

Students should already be familiar with

right triangles,
the Pythagorean theorem,
simple 2D shape properties,
coordinate geometry.

Exclusions

Students will not cover

non-right triangles,
the graph of the tangent function,
the cotangent ratio.