How to Calculate the Sides and Angles of

Triangles
Updated on June 14, 2018

Eugene Brennan more

Eugene is a qualified control/instrumentation engineer Bsc (Eng) and has worked as a developer of electronics
& software for SCADA systems.

Source

The Triangle—a 3-Sided Polygon

Polygons are plane (flat) shapes with several straight sides. Examples are squares, triangles, hexagons, and
pentagons. The name originates from the Greek "polús" meaning "many" and "gōnía" meaning "corner" or "angle." So
polygon means "many corners."
A triangle is the simplest polygon, having 3 sides.

In this tutorial, you'll learn about Pythagoras's Theorem , the Sine Rule, the Cosine Rule and how to use them to
calculate all the angles and side lengths of triangles when you only know some of the angles or side lengths. You'll
also discover different methods of working out the area of a triangle.

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 Source

How to Work Out the Sides and Angles of Triangles?

We can use:

Pythagoras's Theorem
Sine Rule
Cosine Rule
The fact that all angles add up to 180 degrees

Triangles Have Angles

Triangles have 3 corners and the angle between the sides can be anything from greater than 0 up to 180 degrees,
half the angle in a full circle which is 360 degrees. The angles can't be 0 or 180 degrees because then the triangles
would become straight lines.

Degrees can be written using the symbol º so 45º means 45 degrees.

Angles of a triangle range from 0 to 180 degrees | Source
 Triangles classed by side and angles | Source

All the Angles Add Up To 180 degrees

For every triangle in the known Universe, all the angles add up to 180 degrees.
 No matter what the shape or size of a triangle, the sum of the 3 angles is 180 degrees | Source

Similar Triangles
Similar triangles have exactly the same angles but different length sides.
The sides are in the same ratio.
 Similar triangles

The Greek Alphabet

In science, mathematics, and engineering many of the 24 characters of the Greek alphabet are "borrowed" for use in
diagrams and for describing certain quantities. For example, the characters θ (theta) and φ (phi) are often used for
representing angles. You may have seen the character μ (mu) to represent micro as in micrograms μg or micrometers
μm. The capital letter Ω (omega) is the symbol for ohms in electrical engineering. And of course π (pi) is the ratio of
the circumference to the diameter of a circle
 The Greek alphabet | Source

Using Trigonometry For Solving Triangles

Trigonometry is a branch of mathematics which deals with the relationship between the lengths of the sides of a
triangle and its angles. If we don't know all the lengths of the sides of a triangle and/or don't know all the angles, there
are several equations and rules that can be used to work them out. Working out sides and angles is known as solving
triangles. Below we'll use the Sine Rule, Cosine Rule, Pythagoras's Theorem and the fact that all angles sum to 180
degrees to solve triangles.
 Pythagoras's Theorem | Source

Pythagoras's Theorem (The Pythagorean Theorem)

Pythagoras's Theorem (also known as the Pythagorean theorem) states that for a right angled triangle

"The square on the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares on the other two sides."

The hypotesuse is the longest side of a right-angled triangle, opposite the right angle

So if you know the lengths of 2 sides, all you have to do is square the two lengths, add the results and then take the
square root of the sum to get the length of the hypotenuse.

Example: "The sides of a triangle are 3 and 4 units long. What is the length of the hypotenuse?"

Call the sides a, b and c.

Side c is the hypotenuse.
 a=3
b=4

So according to Pythagoras:

c² = a² + b²

So c² = 3² + 4² = 9 + 16 = 25

and c = √25 = 5

Sine, Cosine and Tan of an Angle

A right-angled triangle has one angle measuring 90 degrees. The side opposite this angle is known as the
hypotenuse and it is the longest side. Sine and cosine are trigonometric functions of an angle and are the ratios of the
lengths of the other two sides to the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle.

In the diagram below, one of the angles is represented by the Greek letter θ.

The side a is known as the "opposite" side and side b is the "adjacent" side to the angle θ.

The vertical lines "||" around the words below mean "length of"

sine θ = |opposite side| / |hypotenuse|

cosine θ = |adjacent side| / |hypotenuse|

Tan θ = |opposite side| / |adjacent side|

Sine and cosine apply to an angle, not necessarily an angle in a triangle, so it's possible to just have two lines
meeting at a point and to evaluate sine or cos for that angle. However sine and cos are derived from the sides of an
imaginary right angled triangle superimposed on the lines. In the second diagram below, you can imagine a right
angled triangle superimposed on the purple triangle, from which the opposite and adjacent sides and hypotenuse can
be determined.

Over the range 0 to 90 degrees, sine ranges from 0 to 1 and cos ranges from 1 to 0

Remember sine and cosine only depend on the angle, not the size of the triangle. So if the length a changes in the
diagram below when the triangle changes in size, the hypotenuse c also changes in size, but the ratio of a to c
remains constant.

Sine and cosine are sometimes abbreviated to sin and cos

 Sine, cosine and tan

The Sine Rule

The ratio of the length of a side of a triangle to the sine of the angle opposite it is constant for all 3 sides and angles.

So in the diagram below

a / sine A = b / sine B = c / sine C

Now you can check the sine of an angle using a scientific calculator or look it up online. In the old days before
scientific calculators, we had to look up the value of the sine or cos of an angle in a book of tables.

The opposite or reverse function of sine is arcsine or "inverse sine", sometimes written as sin-1 . When you check the
arcsine of a value, you're working out the angle which produced that value when the sine function was operated on it.

So sin (30º) = 0.5 and sin-1(0.5) = 30º

The Sine Rule can be used:

If the length of one side is known and the magnitude of the angle opposite it, then if any of the other remaining angles
or sides are known, all the angles and sides can be worked out.
Sine rule | Source
 Sine rule example | Source

The Cosine Rule

For a triangle with sides a, b and c, then if a and b are known and C is the included angle (the angle between the
sides), c can be worked out from:

c2 = a2 + b2 - 2abCos C

The Cosine Rule can be used if:

(a) You know the lengths of two sides of a triangle and the included angle. You can then work out the length of the
remaining side using the Cosine Rule.
(b) You know all the lengths of the sides but none of the angles.

Then rearranging the cosine rule equation:

C = Arccos ((a2 + b2 - c2) / 2ab)

The other angles can be worked out similarly.

Cosine rule | Source

 Cosine rule example | Source

Area of a Triangle
The area of a triangle can be determined by multiplying half the length of its base by the perpendicular height.
Perpendicular means at right angles. But which side is the base? Well, you can use any of the three sides. On a
drawing, you can work out the area by drawing a perpendicular line from one side to the opposite corner using a set
square, T-square or protractor. (or a carpenter's square if you're constructing something). Then measure the length of
the line and use the formula 1/2ah to get the area.

Alternative Method of Working Out Area

The simple method above requires that you actually measure the height of a triangle. If you know the length of 2 of
the sides and the included angle, you can work out the area analytically.
Area of a triangle equals half the base length multiplied by the perpendicular height | Source
 Area = 1/2 the product of the sides multiplied by the sine of the included angle | Source

Summary - Which Rules Do I Use?

Known Parameters Rule to Use

Use Pythagoras's Theorem to work out remaining side and

Triangle is right handed and I know length of 2 sides
Sine Rule to work out angles

Triangle is right handed and I know the length of 1 side and Use the trigonometric identities sine and cos to work out other
one angle sides and sum of angles = 180 to work out remaining angle

Use the Cosine Rule to work out remaining side and Sine Rule
I know the length of 2 sides and the angle between them
to work out remaining angles

I know the length of two sides and the angle opposite one of
Use the Sine Rule to work out remaining angles and side
them

I know the length of 1 side and all 3 angles Use the Sine Rule to work out remaining sides
 Known Parameters Rule to Use

Use the Cosine Rule in reverse to work out each angle. C =

I know the lengths of all 3 sides
Arccos ((a² + b² - c²) / 2ab)

How to Measure Angles

You can use a protractor, or alternatively a more new-fangled digital angle finder. These are useful for DIY and
construction if you need to measure an angle between two sides or transfer the angle to another object.

An unknown angle | Source

You can measure an angle with a protractor | Source

You can measure an angle with a digital angle finder | Source
 Source

Tacklife MDA01 Digital Protractor 7 Inch Angle Finder Stainless Steel Ruler With HOLD and Zeroing Function,
Large LCD Display, Coin Battery Included for Woodworking, Construction, Repairing
This digital protractor or angle finder comes in very useful when constructing stuff from wood or metal. I also use
it as a replacement for a bevel gauge for transferring angles e.g. when marking the ends of rafters before cutting.
The rules are graduated in inches and centimetres and angles can be measured to 0.1 degrees.

Buy Now

Triangles Are Strong!

A triangle is the most basic polygon and can't be pushed out of shape easily unlike a square. If you look closely
enough, triangles are used everywhere in machines and structures because the shape is so strong.
One of the strengths of a triangle is due to the fact that when any of the corners are loaded, the side opposite acts as
a tie, undergoing tension and preventing a framework from deforming. So for example on a roof truss, the horizontal
ties provide strength and prevent the roof spreading out at the eaves. The sides of a triangle can also act as struts,
undergoing compression. An example is a shelf bracket or struts on the underside of an aeroplane wing or tail.

Truss bridge | Source

A roof truss | Source

Source

Source
 Spoked wheels | Source

Can you spot the triangles? | Source

 Struts on the underside of an aeroplane tail. | Source

Using a Triangle Calculator

There are lots of online triangle calculators on the web which make things easy (or take the fun out of doing the
calculations!). These calculators allow you to enter angles and side lengths and they will work out all the remaining
sides and angles. Here's one you can try:

http://www.trianglecalculator.net

Calling All Teachers and Students!

Teachers and students, would you you like to see more help guides like this one?
Please leave a suggestion in the comment section below if you have any ideas.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Ask the author a question Ask

Question:
How do I know when to use the sine or cosine formula?
Answer:
If you know the length of two...
Question:
Which formula is used when given 90-degree triangle, opposite angle is 26
degrees and one leg is know?
Answer:
 Use the fact that the cos of...
Question:
How do I know when to use sine or cosine formula when given two degrees and
one length?
Answer:
If the length is opposite one...
Question:
What rule would be used to find the length of sides if all three angles are known?
Answer:
There is an infinite number...
Question:
What is the maximum and minimum value for the sine of an angle?
Answer:
If θ is the angle, the...
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© 2016 Eugene Brennan