GCSE: Trigonometry 2 –

Sine/Cosine Rule
Dr J Frost (jfrost@tiffin.kingston.sch.uk)
www.drfrostmaths.com

Last modified: 8th December 2016

RECAP: Right-Angled Triangles
We’ve previously been able to deal with right-angled triangles, to find the area, or
missing sides and angles.

5
4 6 3
?
Area = 15
?
30.96°

3? 5 5

Using Pythagoras: Using : Using trigonometry:

Labelling Sides of Non-Right Angle Triangles

Right-Angled Triangles: Non-Right-Angled Triangles:

h 𝑎
𝑜 𝐶
? 𝑏
𝐵
?
𝐴
?
𝑎 𝑐
We label the sides and their
corresponding OPPOSITE
angles
OVERVIEW: Finding missing sides and angles
You have You want Use
#1: Two angle-side Missing angle or Sine rule
opposite pairs side in one pair

#2 Two sides known Remaining side Cosine rule

and a missing side
opposite a known
angle

#3 All three sides An angle Cosine rule

#4 Two sides known Remaining side Sine rule

and a missing side not twice
opposite known angle
The Sine Rule

b For this triangle, try

c calculating each side divided
65°
5.02 A
by the sin of its opposite
10 angle. What do you notice in
all three cases?

85°
B ! Sine Rule:
C
30° ?

9.10 a

You have You want Use

#1: Two angle-side Missing angle or Sine rule
opposite pairs side in one pair
Examples

Q1
Q2 8
8 50°
85° 100°

45° 30° 15.76

?
11.27
?

You have You want Use

#1: Two angle-side Missing angle or Sine rule
opposite pairs side in one pair
Examples
When you have a missing angle, it’s better to ‘flip’ your formula to get

i.e. in general put the missing value in the numerator.

5 Q4
Q3
8
126°
85° 40.33°
?
?
56.11° 6 10

sin𝜃 sin85 sin𝜃 sin126°

= =
5 6 8 10
Test Your Understanding

𝑄
𝑃 20° 82° 10 𝑚
85° 𝜃
5 𝑐𝑚
12 𝑚
𝑅 Determine the angle .
Determine the length .

?
?
Exercise 1
Find the missing angle or side. Give answers to 3sf.
Q1 Q2 Q3
15
85 ° 10 16 12 𝑦
𝑥 30 ° 30 °
40 °
𝑥 20
𝑥=23.2
? 𝑥=53.1
? ° 𝑦 =56.4
? °
𝑥
Q4 Q6
Q5 70 °
35° 10
40 ° 5
10 𝛼
20
𝛼=16.7
? ° 𝑥=5.32
?
𝑥
𝑥=6.84
?
 Cosine Rule
The sine rule could be used whenever we had two pairs of sides and opposite angles involved.
However, sometimes there may only be one angle involved. We then use something called the
cosine rule.

𝑏 Cosine Rule:
15
𝐴 The only angle in formula is , so label angle in
115° 𝑎 How
diagram are
, label sidesside
opposite labelled ? ( and
, and so on
can go either way).
𝑐 𝑥
12 Calculation?
Sin or Cosine Rule?
If you were given these exam questions, which would you use?

10 𝑥
𝑥 10
70 ° 70 °
15 15

Sine
 
Cosine 
Sine Cosine


10 10
𝛼
7
𝛼 70 °
15 12

Sine Cosine
 Sine
 
Cosine
Test Your Understanding

e.g. 1 e.g. 2
𝑥

𝑥
4
7 47 ° 8 106.4 °

𝑥 =6.05
? 𝑥 =8.99
?

You have You want Use

Two sides known and a missing Remaining side Cosine rule
side opposite a known angle
Dealing with Missing Angles
You have You want Use
All three sides An angle Cosine rule

𝟐 𝟐 𝟐
𝒂 = 𝒃 +𝒄 −𝟐 𝒃𝒄 𝐜𝐨𝐬 𝑨
7
𝛼 Label sides then
4 substitute into
? formula.

𝟐 𝟐 𝟐
9

𝟒 =𝟕 +𝟗 −(𝟐×𝟕×𝟗×𝐜𝐨𝐬𝜶)
? Simplify each bit of formula.

? Rearrange (I use ‘swapsie’

trick to swap thing you’re
subtracting and result)

? While the brackets here

aren’t necessary (given
BIDMAS), a common
student error is to
calculate and hence
simplify to:
 Test Your Understanding

4 𝑐𝑚
8 7 𝑐𝑚
5
𝜃 9 𝑐𝑚 𝜃
7

2 2 2
8 =7 +5 −(2×7×5×cos𝜃) 4 =7 +9 − (2×7×9×cos𝜃)
2 2 2 ? ?
Exercise 2
Use the cosine rule to determine the missing angle/side. Quickly copy out the diagram first.
1 2 3

5 𝑥 5 8 7
100° 6
60 °
𝜃
7 𝑦 6
𝑥 =6.24
? ?
𝑦 =10.14
𝜃=71.4
? °
4 5 𝑥
6 6
12
𝑥 10
43 ° 65 ° 8 𝛽
6 5
13.2
𝑥= 4.398
? 3
?
𝑥=9.513 𝛽= 92.5
? °
Exercise 2
7 8 135 ° 9
5.2 58 4 75 ° 5
𝜃 11
70
𝑥
8 3
𝑥=50.22
? 𝑥
𝜃=111.1
? °
𝑥=6.2966
?
10 11
4 75 ° 5 3
𝜃

2 30°
3
𝑥 70°
3
𝑥=6.2966
? 𝜃= 29.8
? °
Using sine rule twice
You have You want Use
#4 Two sides known Remaining side Sine rule
and a missing side not twice
opposite known angle

Given there is just one angle involved,

you might attempt to use the cosine
4 rule:

32 ° ?
3

𝑥 This is a quadratic equation!

It’s possible to solve this using the
quadratic formula (using ). However, this is
a bit fiddly and not the primary method
expected in the exam…
 Using sine rule twice
You have You want Use
#4 Two sides known Remaining side Sine rule
and a missing side not twice
opposite known angle

! 2: Which means we would then

know this angle.

4𝟏𝟖𝟎−𝟑𝟐−𝟒𝟒.𝟗𝟓𝟓𝟔=𝟏𝟎𝟑
? .𝟎𝟒𝟒𝟒

1: We could use the sine

rule to find this angle. 3 32 °
3: Using the sine rule a second

? 𝑥 time allows us to find

𝑥 3
?=
sin 103.0444 sin 32
Test Your Understanding

9
𝑦 =6.97
?
𝑦

61 ° 10

4 3

53 °
𝑦 =5.01
?
𝑦
Area of Non Right-Angled Triangles

3cm
Area = 0.5 x 3 x 7 x sin(59)
= 9.00cm?2
59°

7cm

! Area =
Where C is the angle wedged between two sides a and b.
Test Your Understanding
1
9 𝐴= × 6.97×10×
? 𝑠𝑖𝑛61
2
6.97

61 ° 10

5 5

1
𝐴= ×5×5×sin
? 60
2 5
Harder Examples
Q1 (Edexcel June 2014) Q2

6
7

8
Finding angle :
Using cosine rule to find angle
opposite 8:
Area of
?
?
Exercise 3 Find the area of each of these shapes.

Q2 Q3
Q1 Q4

3 5 1 1 3.8
3.6
100°
5
75°
8
?
Area = 7.39 1 5.2 70°
𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎= √ =0.433
3
4 ?
?
Area = 9.04
?
Area = 8.03
2cm
Q5 Q6 Q7
8 .7 110 °
𝑐𝑚 3cm
Area = ?
64 ° 4 9 ° Q8
4.2m
3m
𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎=29.25?𝑐 𝑚
2 is the midpoint of and the
midpoint of . is a sector of a
circle. Find the shaded area. 5.3m

( 1 2
2 )?1
× 6 ×sin 60 − 𝜋 ( 32 ) =10.9 𝑐 𝑚2
6
Area = ?
 Segment Area
𝐴 is a sector of a circle, centred at .
𝑐𝑚 Determine the area of the shaded segment.
1 0
𝑂 70 ° ?
?

𝐵
Test Your Understanding

𝐴=119 𝑚
? 2
𝐴= 3 𝜋 ?− 9
Where it gets more Further Maths-ey…
You will frequently encounter either
algebraic or surd sides.
The approach is exactly the same as
before.

(But would lead to side of being negative)

?
Another Example
Jan 2013 Paper 2 Q20

1 Use

18= ×𝑤×2𝑤×sin30
?
2 Can now use cosine rule.
 Test Your Understanding
AQA Set 4 Paper 1

Frost Special

2𝑥 𝑥 √6

60 °
2 2 2
𝑝 =𝑚 + (3 𝑚) − (2 ×𝑚×3𝑚×cos60)
? 𝑥+ 3

Determine the value of .

?
 Exercise 4
1 [June 2012 Paper 2 Q13] Work out 3
angle .
𝑥+ 1
𝑥

60°
2 𝑥 −1
𝒙=𝟏𝟎𝟐
? .𝟔𝟒 ° Use the cosine rule to determine .

𝟐 𝟐 𝟐?
2 Here is a triangle. Work out .
( 𝒙 +𝟏) =𝒙 +(𝟐 𝒙−𝟏) −𝟐𝒙 (𝟐 𝒙−𝟏 )𝐜𝐨𝐬 𝟔𝟎
𝜽 =𝟑𝟎 °
?
Exercise 4
4 5

3𝑥 √2 𝜃
𝑦
45 °
30 ° √3
2𝑥
The angle is obtuse. Determine .
Given that the area of the
triangle is 24cm2. Find the
values of and . (Remember that )
?

?
Exercise 4
6 [June 2012 Paper 1] Triangle ABC has an
obtuse angle at C. Given that , use triangle to
show that angle

𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝑩 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝑨 𝟎.𝟐𝟓

= = ?

𝟒 √ 𝟑−𝟔 𝟐− √ 𝟑 𝟐− √ 𝟑
Exercise 4
7

June 2013 Paper 2 Q23

In triangle , bisects angle .
?
Use the sine rule in triangles and to
prove that .
Exercise 5 - Mixed Exercises
Q4 90𝑚
Q1 Q2 Q3
27 𝑧 30° 1 1 130°
8 0° 8 𝑦
𝛼 60𝑚
40 ° 70° 18
𝑥

𝛼=17.79°
?
? 10
? ? 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟
?
Q5
b) ? 𝑦=10.45 ? ?
4.6 Q7 Q8

𝜃 15 7 5
Q6 52° 6𝑐𝑚 61 °
12
𝑄𝑅=12.6?𝑐𝑚 𝑥
𝜃=122.8
? ° ?
𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎=2.15 𝑐 𝑚
2
?
𝑥=7.89 ?