Trigonometry : Law of Cosines and Law of Sines

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Trigonometry

varsity tutors app store varsity tutors android store

Example Questions

Example Question #31 :Law Of Cosines

If,,=, find the length of sideto the nearest tenth of a degree.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Since we are give the length of two sides of a triangle and the corresponding angle of the third side, we can use the Law of Cosines to find the length of the third side. Because we are looking for, we use the equation

Taking the square root of both sides we isolate

Substituting in the values from the problem gives

Example Question #31 :Law Of Cosines And Law Of Sines

If=,=,=, find the length of sideto the nearest whole number.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Because the problem gives the length of two of the three sides of a triangle and the corresponding angle of the third side, we can use the Law of Cosines to find the length of the third side. This gives use the equation

We can take the square root of both sides in order to give the equation

Substituting in the values given from the problem gives

Example Question #33 :Law Of Cosines And Law Of Sines

Suppose there was a triangle with side lengths 8,7, 14. What is the measure of the largest angle, rounded to the nearest degree?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The largest angle will be opposite the largest of the three side lengths, 14. We can find its measure using the law of cosines:

From here take the inverse cosine of each side to find the degress value that is angle C.

Example Question #1 :Law Of Sines

Figure1

Given sides,and angledetermine the corresponding value for

Possible Answers:

Undefined

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The Law of Sines is used here since we have Side - Angle - Side. We setup our equation as follows:

Next, we substitute the known values:

Now we cross multiply:

Divide by 10 on both sides:

最后反正弦获取desired angle:

Example Question #2 :Law Of Sines

Let,and, determine the length of side

Figure2

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

We have two angles and one side, however we do not have。We can determine the angle using the property of angles in a triangle summing to:

Now we can simply utilize the Law of Sines:

Cross multiply and divide:

Reducing to obtain the final solution:

Example Question #1 :Law Of Sines

Triangle

在the above triangle,and。If, what isto the nearest tenth? (note: triangle not to scale)

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

If we solve for, we can use the Law of Sines to find

Since the sum of angles in a triangle equals,

Now, using the Law of Sines:

Example Question #1 :Law Of Sines

Screen_shot_2015-03-07_at_5.09.32_pm

By what factor islarger thanin the triangle pictured above.

Possible Answers:

It isn't

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The Law of Sines states

so for a and b, that sets up

Example Question #5 :Law Of Sines

Solve for:
Sines 1

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To solve, use the law of sines,where a is the side across from the angle A, and b is the side across from the angle B.

cross-multiply

evaluate the right side

divide by 7

take the inverse sine

Example Question #6 :Law Of Sines

Evaluate using law of sines:

Sines 2

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To solve, use law of sines,where side a is across from angle A, and side b is across from angle B.

在this case, we have a 90-degree angle across from x, but we don't currently know the angle across from the side length 7. We can figure out this angle by subtractingfrom:

Now we can set up and solve using law of sines:

cross-multiply

evaluate the sines

divide by 0.9063

Example Question #7 :Law Of Sines

What is the measure ofinbelow? Round to the nearest tenth of a degree.

Triangle def

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The law of sines tells us that, wherea,b, andcare the sides opposite of anglesA,B, andC。在, these ratios can be used to find:

Learning Tools by Varsity Tutors