In a right triangle, angle C measures 40°. The hypotenuse of the triangle is 10 inches long. What is the approximate length of the side adjacent to angle C?

Use cosine, which relates the adjacent side to the hypotenuse: cos(40°) = adjacent ÷ 10. So the adjacent side is 10 × cos(40°) ≈ 10 × 0.766 = 7.66 inches, or about 7.7 inches. The correct choice is 7.7 inches.

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