U4 L4: Sine and Cosine Law

THEORY

Sine law should be used if given a side-angle pair and one other piece of
information.

The topic of related angles has a consequence in the sine law namely that
for a triangle described by a side-angle pair, and another side, there are two
possibilities that can be drawn.

The cosine law is used when given 3 sides, or 2 sides and the subtended
angle

Sine law:
You may have also seen the reciprocal version of this equation. Note that you only
use two of the three parts at a time.

sinA sinB sinC

=
=
a
b
c

Cosine law:
2

a =b +c 2 bccosA

Other forms of the cosine law:

Investigate how the cosine law is related to Pythagorean theorem:

U4 L4: Sine and Cosine Law

The ambiguous case of the Sine law:
Recall that the sines of related angles are the same, e.g.

sin 30 =sin 150

This means that, although your calculator will only ever give you one answer when
you do sin 1 x , there may be more than one possible answer. For example,

sin 1 0.5=30 . But you should also know that the related angle that has the same
sine is 150. Therefore, sin 1 0.5=150 as well, but your calculator will never give
you this answer.
There is a test that you can use to see whether there are two possible triangles you
can draw for the given information (a side-acute angle pair and one other side). If
the given angle, A 90 , you have only one possible triangle.
o
o

If
If

a b , then there is only one triangle.

a<b , you need further investigation
You have two triangles if a>bsinA
You have one triangle if a=bsinA
You have no possible triangles if a<bsinA

Draw the triangle ABC where A = 40, a = 5 and b = 6.

Step 1. Apply the test to determine how many possibilities

Step 2. Draw the necessary triangles.
Step 3. Solve the triangles

U4 L4: Sine and Cosine Law

There are two main types of question where you will have to apply the ambiguous
case of the sine law. One is like the question above. The other is easier it displays
the two possible triangles as part of the same shape.

40
This is a good demonstration of the sine law because it display the related angles on
the same line, proving that they add to 180.
You can draw these triangles separately as well, but the easiest method for solving
is to treat them together.

Practice:
1. In triangle RST, S = 40, T = 21 and r = 46cm. Solve the triangle, rounding
to the nearest tenth.

U4 L4: Sine and Cosine Law

2. In triangle PQR, P = 105.2, p = 23.2cm and r = 18.5 cm. Solve the triangle,
rounding to the nearest tenth.

3. In triangle ABC, a = 9.6cm, b = 20.6cm and c = 14.7cm. Solve the triangle

(rounding to the nearest tenth).

4. In the shape below, EF = 2.5m, F = 97.2, E = 56.7, D = 48.2 and DF =

3.9m. Find the length of CD to the nearest tenth of a metre.
C
D

U4 L4: Sine and Cosine Law

5. In triangle ABC, A = 29.3, b = 20.5cm and a = 12.8cm. Solve the triangle,

rounding to the nearest tenth.

Further Practice: Mathematics 11, pg 308 Q 1-19.