Statics Trusses: When to use Sin and Cos

This tutorial runs through a statics truss problem (method of joints) and explains at every step when to use sin and when to use cos. Essentially we are just using SOHCAHTOA to find the opposite and adjacent sides of triangles that we construct, to determine the horizontal and vertical components of the internal forces in each member. We use these components to complete the sum of force in x and y directions at each joint.

This lesson is part of: Statics
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