Use the laws of cosines and sines

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Pre-Calculus › Use the laws of cosines and sines

Questions 1 - 10
1

Which of the following are the missing sides of the triangle?

12

None of the above

Explanation

In order to solve this problem, we need to find

Since all the angles of a triangle add to , we can easily find it:

We can now use the Law of Sines to find the missing sides:

which is I.

which is III.

Our answers are then I and III.

2

Solve the triangle

Law_of_cosines__sss_

None of the other answers

Explanation

Since we are given all 3 sides, we can use the Law of Cosines in the angle form:

Let's start by finding angle A:

Now let's solve for B:

We can solve for C the same way, but since we now have A and B, we can use our knowledge that all interior angles of a triangle must add up to 180 to find C.

3

Find the length of the missing side, .

9

Explanation

First, use the Law of Sines to find the measurement of angle

Recall that all the angles in a triangle need to add up to degrees.

Now, use the Law of Sines again to find the length of .

4

Lc1c

What is the measurement of side using the Law of Cosines? Round to the nearest tenth.

Explanation

The Law of Cosines for side is,

.

Plugging in the information we know, the formula is,

.

Then take the square of both sides: .

Finally, round to the appropriate units: .

5

Pcq2

Solve for c using Law of Sines, given:

Round to the nearest tenth.

None of these answers are correct.

Explanation

Law of Sines

Therefore...

After rounding...

6

Find the length of the missing side, .

1

Explanation

First, use the Law of Sines to find the measurement of angle

Recall that all the angles in a triangle need to add up to degrees.

Now, use the Law of Sines again to find the length of .

7

Triangle_700

Given and , what is the measurement of to the nearest degree?

Explanation

Using the information we have, we can solve for :

.

Plugging in what we know, we have:

.

Then, solve for :

.

Simplify, then solve for : which means .

Therefore, after rounding to the nearest degree, .

To solve for , subtract and from : .

Therefore, .

8

Given three sides of the triangle below, determine the angles , , and in degrees.

Sss

Explanation

We are only given sides, so we must use the Law of Cosines. The equation for the Law of Cosines is

,

where , and are the sides of a triangle and the angle is opposite the side .

We have three known sides and three unknown angles, so we must write the Law three times, where each equation lets us solve for a different angle.

To solve for angle , we write

and solve for using the inverse cosine function on a calculator to get

.

Similarly, for angle ,

and for ,

and

9

Use the Law of Sines to solve for the specified variable.

Pcq2

Solve for . Round to the nearest tenth.

None of these answers are correct.

Explanation

Law of Sines

Therefore...

After rounding...

10

Find the length of the missing side,

11

Explanation

First, use the Law of Sines to find the measurement of angle

Recall that all the angles in a triangle need to add up to degrees.

Now, use the Law of Sines again to find the length of .

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