January 20, 2015

Law of Sines and Cosines

YOU WILL NEED A CALCULATOR THAT HAS
TRIG INVERSES ON IT!!

Get ready for notes!

Purpose of Laws
The

Law of Sines (or Sine Rule)

and the Law of Cosines (or Cosine
Rule) are both useful for solving
right triangles

The Law of Sines

This works for all triangles
a, b, and c are all sides.
A, B, and C are all angles

Instead of focusing on As, Bs, and Cs think of it as opposites!

Just to show
a
8
8

9.04
sin A sin 62.2 .885
b
5
5

9.06
sin B sin 33.5
.552
c
9
9

9.05
sin C sin 84.3
.995

Example 1 Calculate
side c
Since its not a right triangle, we
cannot use the Pythagorean
Theorem or any Right Triangle
Trigonometry Functions
individually.

Fill in what we know

Take out useless stuff

Cross multiple and solve!

a
7
c

sin A sin( 35) sin( 105)

7
c

sin( 35) sin( 105)

7[sin( 105)] c[sin( 35)]
6.761 .5736c
c 11.787

Example 2 Calculate angle B

Fill in what we know

a
4.7
5.5

sin A sin B sin( 63)

Take out useless stuff

4 .7
5 .5

sin B sin( 63)

Cross multiply and solve!

4.7[sin( 63)] 5.5[sin B ]

4.1877 5.5 sin B
.7614 sin B

Use Trig Inverse for angles

mB sin 1 (.7614)
B 49.6

The Law of Cosines

This works for all triangles

a, b, and c are all sides.

A, B, and C is the angle across from the given

This is useful for finding

1. The third side of a triangle when you know two sides and the
angle between them.
2. The angle of a third side when you know all three sides

Example 3 Calculate
side c
Since its not a right triangle, we
cannot use the Pythagorean
Theorem or any Right Triangle
Trigonometry Functions.
a = 8, b = 11, C = 37
Fill in what we know c 8 11 2(8)(11) cos(37)
2

Simplify and solve

c 2 64 121 176(0.798)
c 2 44.44

Take the square root!

c 6.67

Example 4 Calculate angle C

a = 5, b = 9, c = 8
Fill in what we know
Simplify and solve

82 52 9 2 2(5)(9) cos C
64 25 81 90 cos C
42 90 cos C
0.4667 cos C

Use Inverse Trig to Solve

mC cos 1 (0.4667)
mC 62.2

Find the missing side or angle.

Work together to solve.

Homework
Complete

the 4 problems on the

half sheet of paper.