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Unit Seven: Trigonometry

Section 6.2: Similar Triangles
MathPower 10, Ontario Ed., McGraw-Hill Ryerson p. 318-325

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

Define what similar triangles are
Know the various properties of two triangles that are similar
Use the properties to find side lengths and areas
Show similarity based on geometric properties
Find the length of sides in a problem

Similar triangles are two triangles that have the same internal angles, but different lengths of sides. For example:

Similar Triangle Property #1:

If two triangles are similar, then their corresponding angles must be equal.

Similar Triangle Property #2:

If two triangles are similar, then the ratio of their corresponding sides are the same. (I.e., the triangle is magnified or shrunk by the
same factor)

Similar Triangle Property #3:

If two triangles are similar, then the ratio of their areas is equal to the ratio of the squares of the corresponding sides.
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Example 1: Find the lengths of the missing sides if these two triangles are similar.

4 cm 6 cm
5 cm

10 cm

Example 2: Find the area of the second triangle if the area of the first triangle is 8 cm2. The two triangles are similar.

15 cm
4 cm
10 cm

5 cm

Example 3: Show why the two triangles depicted below are similar.
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Example 4: Determine the width of the river below. Note: LK = 50 m, ML = 20 m and MN = 24 m.

Homework: pp. 322-325 # 1-4, 8-13

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Section 6.3, 6.4 and 6.5: The Sine, Cosine and Tangent Ratios
MathPower 10, Ontario Ed., McGraw-Hill Ryerson p. 326 - 345

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

Understand that the three trig ratios come from similar triangles
Use the mnemonic device SOH CAH TOA to remember the various trig ratios
Calculate the lengths of sides and the degrees of angles in right angled triangles
Use the trig functions (sin, cos, tan) on your calculator to find missing sides
Use the inverse trig functions (sin-1, cos-1, tan-1) on your calculator to find missing angles

Let’s examine three right angled triangles that are similar.

Complete the following chart.

Triangle ∆ABC ∆ADE ∆AFG

Ratio

What point is common to all three triangles? _____________ What is the value of that angle? _________________

What then did you notice about all the ratios?

The Sine Ratio

For any acute angle A in a right triangle, the sine ratio is defined as:
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Example 1: Find the sine ratios for each angle to the thousandth degree.

a. 75o b. 52o c. 17o d. 90o

Careful! Sine or sin(A) is NOT multiplication! (i.e., you are NOT MULTIPLYING sin and A). Treat sin (A) as a function, whereby you
input a value of an angle, A, and it outputs the value of the ratio of

This is also helpful when you want to find the angle and not the ratio.

Example 2: Find the angle R in ∆RST where r = 8 cm and t = 17 cm (hypotenuse).

Example 3: Find the side length c (hypotenuse) in ∆ABC, where b = 3.6 m, and ∠B = 60o.
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Now, let’s re-examine the same right angled triangles from before:

Complete the following chart.

Triangle ∆MNO ∆MPQ ∆MRS

Ratio

What point is common to all three triangles? _____________ What is the value of that angle? _________________

What then did you notice about all the ratios?

The Cosine Ratio

For any acute angle A in a right triangle, the cosine ratio is defined as:

Again, cosine or cos (A) is NOT multiplication! (i.e., you are NOT MULTIPLYING cos and A). Treat cos (A) as a function, whereby you
input a value of an angle, A, and it outputs the value of the ratio of

This is also helpful when you want to find the angle and not the ratio.
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Example 4: Find the cosine ratio, to the nearest thousandth, for each angle:

a. 42o b. 9o c. 20o d. 90o

Example 5: Find ∠B in ∆DBE if the hypotenuse, d, is 13 cm and the length of e = 5 cm.

Example 6: Use the sine and cosine ratio to find the length of w to the nearest centimetre. y = 11 cm
W X

x = 24 cm

Y
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Finally, let’s look at the final ratio:

Complete the following chart.

Triangle ∆SVU ∆SWX ∆SYZ

Ratio

What point is common to all three triangles? _____________ What is the value of that angle? _________________

What then did you notice about all the ratios?

The Tangent Ratio

For any acute angle A in a right triangle, the tangent ratio is defined as:

Again, tangent or tan (A) is NOT multiplication! (i.e., you are NOT MULTIPLYING tan and A). Treat tan (A) as a function, whereby you
input a value of an angle, A, and it outputs the value of the ratio of
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Example 7: Find the tangent ratio to the nearest thousandth for each angle

a. 40o b. 55o c. 73o d. 89o

Example 8: Find ∠P and ∠R given the following triangle.

r = 8 cm Q
P

p = 5 cm

Example 9: Find the length of KL to the nearest metre given ∠K = 45o and:

k = 10 cm

K
L

Homework: pp. 330-331 # 5-8; p. 338 # 5, 6; p. 344 # 5, 6

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Problem Solving Using the Trigonometric Ratios
MathPower 10, Ontario Ed., McGraw-Hill Ryerson p. 326 – 345

Example 1: p. Solve for x and then y to the nearest tenth of a metre.

Example 2: Solve for x and then y to the nearest tenth of a centimetre.

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Example 3: Solve for x and then y to the nearest tenth of a metre.

Homework: pp. 332, #20, p. 345 # 13, 14, p. 339, #15 and handout
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Section 6.6: Solving Right Triangles
MathPower 10, Ontario Ed., McGraw-Hill Ryerson p. 346-350

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

Solve triangles by determining the lengths of all the sides and all the angles
Use trig ratios to determine the angles

In this lesson, you’ll use trig ratios to solve right angled triangles.

Example 1: Solve ΔABC. Find the side lengths to the nearest tenth of a centimetre and angles to the nearest degree.

13 cm

11 cm

Example 2: Solve ΔDEF. Find the side lengths to the nearest tenth of a centimetre and angles to the nearest degree.

43.5o

12
cm
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Example 3: A lighthouse sits at sea level in the water. The angle of depression to sight a small fishing boat at sea is 27o. How far from
the base of the lighthouse is the fishing boat, to the nearest metre?

Homework: pp. 348-350 # 1 odd, 2 odd, 3 – 10

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Section 6.7: Problems Involving Two Right Triangles
MathPower 10, Ontario Ed., McGraw-Hill Ryerson p. 352 - 359

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

Solve problems involving two right triangles by using the trig ratios and combining equations

In this lesson, you’ll generally need to create three equations for three unknowns and then solve for the unknown you need.

You can start by:

- identifying angles on your diagram that may be useful
- assign new variables to sides if necessary
- look for trig ratios where a side is common
- create equations and then make them equal to each other

Example 1: Find the length of x.

Example 2: Find the length of x.

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Example 3: Find the length of x.

Homework: pp. 355-357 # 1, 2, 4-5 6, 10; p.332 #17

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Section 6.9: The Sine Law
MathPower 10, Ontario Ed., McGraw-Hill Ryerson p. 362 - 368

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

Understand how the sine law was derived
Use the sine law to solve an acute triangle
Use the sine law to solve word problems

Before using the Sine Law to solve acute angled triangles, let’s examine how it is derived. Below is an acute angled triangle, ∆ABC.

A
Draw the altitude or height of the triangle. Label it h or AD.

In ∆ABD, write the formula for sin (B).

Re-arrange to isolate h:

In ∆ACD, write the formula for sin (C).

Re-arrange to isolate h:

B C

What can you do now that you have two expressions that both equal h?

Now, draw the altitude/height from vertex C and repeat the above steps using ∠A and ∠B.

B C

The Sine Law

For an acute angled triangle,

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Example 1: Use the Sine law to solve the triangle ∆RST, given ∠S = 83o, r = 53 m and ∠T = 26o. Round each side length to the
nearest metre.

Example 2: In acute triangle, ∆DEF, ∠F = 35o, f = 42 m, and d = 64 m. Solve the triangle. Round each length to the nearest metre
and each angle measure to the nearest degree.
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Example 3: A ship in trouble is spotted by a man on a cliff. Determine the direct distance between the man and the ship given the
following diagram.

Homework: pp. 366-367 # 1, 2, 3 odd, 4-6, 8

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Section 6.10: The Cosine Law
MathPower 10, Ontario Ed., McGraw-Hill Ryerson p. 369 - 376

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

Understand how the cosine law was derived
Use the cosine law to solve an acute triangle
Use the cosine law to solve word problems

Just as we did with the Sine Law, let’s derive the expression for the Cosine Law. Below is an acute angled triangle, ∆ABC.

C
Draw the altitude or height of the triangle. Label it h and CD.

Let AD = x and then let BD = .

Use Pythagorean Theorem for ∆ACD:

Use cosine to for ∠A and re-arrange to isolate x:

A B

Now use Pythagorean Theorem in ∆BCD:

Expand the expression (c – x)2:

Re-arrange it to group h2 and x2 together:

Substitute b2 for (h2 + x2) and b cos (A) for x:

The Cosine Law

For an acute angled triangle,

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Example 1: (Given two sides and a contained angle) Use the Cosine law to find length b in the triangle ∆ABC, given ∠B = 42o, a = 52
m and c = 36 m. Round to the nearest metre.

Example 2: (Given Three Sides) In acute triangle, ∆DEF, d = 62 cm, e = 51 cm, and f = 48 cm. Find each angle to the nearest degree.
You may use BOTH the cosine and sine law.
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Example 3: Solve the triangle ∆RST, given ∠R = 72o, s = 12 m, and t = 10 m. Round each answer to the nearest whole number. You
may use both the cosine law and the sine law.

Example 4: Determine the distance between two ships assuming Ship A has traveled 10 km and Ship B has traveled 18 km.

Homework: pp. 373-76 # 1, 2, 3ab, 4ab, 5-8, 10-12, 14

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Section 6.7: Problems Involving Two Right Triangles Part II
MathPower 10, Ontario Ed., McGraw-Hill Ryerson p. 352-359

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

Understand when to use Sine or Cosine Law
Solve for missing sides

Example 1: Solve for RS using Sine Law and the ratios.

Example 2: Find TU using Sine Law and the ratios.

Homework: p. 356 # 7, 8, 11-13, 15, 17 (day 2)

Review: pp. 380-389 # 1-10, 11e, 12, 13, 15-18, 22, 27, 28, 31