Jason Pham

Mrs. Strong
B2
5/1/17
Law of Sines
Law of Sine and Cosine are used to help find a missing angle and also can be used to
help find a missing side of a triangle if the triangle is not a right triangle. Law of sine is usually
shown as a/sin(A) = b/sin(B) = c/sin(C) or shown in picture #1 in the bottom. Law of sine is used
only if you ever need two parts of the Sine Rule formula, not all of the parts. You will need to
know at least one pair of a side.When you use the law of sines you label the angle as a and
the side across of the angle A. Next you use plug the numbers into the formula which is in the
photo #1. Once you do that in the formula, if you are missing an angle you will plug x in the B
of the sin(B) and you the side b and plug it into the equation. If you are missing a side you plug
it into b and you put the angle into the B in the equation. Once you have plugged in all the
numbers to the laws of sine except for the side or the angle that you are missing you will have to
solve for X. That is the law of Sine.
Law of Cosine
Law of Cosine is used when you know two sides and the opposite angle or side. the Law of
Cosine is a bit different this time the equation is a2=b2+c2-2bcCos(A) this time if you dont know
an angle you will plug a x in the A and if you dont know a side you will plug x into the a.Then
you will plug one of the other sides that you know into the b in the equation. The other side
that you should know should be plugged into c. Once all of the numbers have been plugged
into the equation except for 1 unknown number marked as x you will start solving for x.

Picture #1

http://www.cimt.org.uk/projects/mepres/step-up/sect4/index.htm
 Example for Law of Sine

Law of Sines: a/sin A = b/sin B = c/sin C

Put in the values we know: a/sin A = 7/sin(35) = c/sin(105)

Ignore a/sin A (not useful to us): 7/sin(35) = c/sin(105)

Swap sides: c/sin(105) = 7/sin(35)

Multiply both sides by sin(105): c = ( 7 / sin(35) ) sin(105)

Calculate: c = 11.8

https://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/trig-sine-law.html

Law of Cosine

We know angle C = 37, and sides a = 8 and b = 11

a2 = b2 + c2 2bc Cos(A)
 Put in the values we know: a2 = 82 + 112 2 8 11 cos(37)

a = 6.67

https://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/trig-cosine-law.html

Connections within our class

Law of Sine and Cosine is relevant to our class in a few ways. The law of Sine and
Cosine could be used to find how much each radian is worth in sine and cose by using the
angle. They are can be used in trig functions. Trig functions are different rules that are used
when you are working with Sine and Cosine. They can fit in the set of rules except that they
work mostly in degree instead of radians. They can fit in radians fairly easily because in
astronomy they use radian to find how far things are in a solar system. To find the actual
distance they can use the law of sine and cosine to find the distance with the help of radians.
Connections outside of our class
Law of Sine and Cosine is used in the outside world. The majority of the jobs that use
the law of Sine and Cosine are Engineers and Architecture. Architectures use it because when
they want to build something triangular they need to know the measurements and the angle
they are going to do it in for example if they wanted to build a roof that is triangular they need to
use the law of cosine or the law of sine to know the length of each sides or maybe just the law
of cosine to find out the top angle of the roof so that it would fit on the the floor of the attic or the
top of the house. If not the sides might be too small so the roof could collapse or be to big which
would make it likely to collapse too. An engineer would use the law of Cosine or the Law of Sine
while they are building whatever they are trying to do. If they are trying the create something
triangular while they know the sides but the dont know one or two of the angles they would just
use the law of sine to find our that one angle or both of the missing angles. There are more jobs
that may use the law of sine or cosine for example: math teachers, surveyors, and computer
programmers.