U4 L4: Sine and Cosine Law MCR3

THEORY

 Sine law should be used if given a side-angle pair and one other piece of information.
o The concept of related angles (L3) has a consequence for the sine law: if you’re given
a triangle described by a side-angle pair, and another side, there are sometimes two
possible triangles that fit the information.
 The cosine law is used when given 3 sides, or 2 sides and the subtended angle

Sine law:

Note that you only use two of the three parts at a time. Use whichever version has the unknown in the
numerator.

sinA sinB sinC

= =
a b c

a b c
= =
sinA sinB sinC

Cosine law:

a 2=b2 +c 2−2 bccosA

a2−b 2−c 2
=cosA
−2 bc

Investigate how the cosine law is related to Pythagorean theorem:

 U4 L4: Sine and Cosine Law MCR3
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e.g. 1: In triangle PQR, P = 105.2, p = 23.2cm and r = 18.5 cm. Solve the triangle, rounding to the
nearest tenth.

Further practice for the sine & cosine law:

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 MCR3
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2. In triangle ABC, a = 9.6cm, b = 20.6cm and c = 14.7cm. Solve the triangle (rounding to the
nearest tenth).

3. In the shape below, 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

3.9
E F
2.5
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4. In triangle ABC, A = 29.3, b = 20.5cm and a = 12.8cm. Solve the triangle, rounding to the nearest
tenth.

The ambiguous case of the Sine law:

From lesson 3, 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.

If we were doing this calculation…

sin 4 0 sinB
=
5 6
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How do we know whether there could be two triangles?

 Do you have a side-acute angle pair, and one other side? (a, A and b, where A is acute)
 Is the side in the pair less than the other side? (is a< b?)
 Is a> bsinA ?

If the answer to all of those is yes, then there are two triangles. (If a< bsinA then you have no possible
triangles).

e.g. 2 Solve the triangle ABC where A = 40, a = 5 and b = 6.

Sometimes you may be given a diagram that shows the two triangles together:

6 5 5

40

In this case, draw two separate triangles and solve as above.

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Practice: Mathematics 11 pg 308 Q 1-5, Foundations of Mathematics 12 pg 334.