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Fig. 3 – Applications of the law of cosines: unknown side and unknown angle. Given triangle sides b and c and angle γ there are sometimes two solutions for a. The theorem is used in solution of triangles, i.e., to find (see Figure 3): the third side of a triangle if two sides and the angle between them is known: = + ;
If the law of cosines is used to solve for c, the necessity of inverting the cosine magnifies rounding errors when c is small. In this case, the alternative formulation of the law of haversines is preferable. [3] A variation on the law of cosines, the second spherical law of cosines, [4] (also called the cosine rule for angles [1]) states:
If b ≥ c, then β ≥ γ (the larger side corresponds to a larger angle). Since no triangle can have two obtuse angles, γ is an acute angle and the solution γ = arcsin D is unique. If b < c, the angle γ may be acute: γ = arcsin D or obtuse: γ ′ = 180° − γ.
Case 1: three sides given (SSS). The cosine rule may be used to give the angles A, B, and C but, to avoid ambiguities, the half angle formulae are preferred. Case 2: two sides and an included angle given (SAS). The cosine rule gives a and then we are back to Case 1. Case 3: two sides and an opposite angle given (SSA).
The half-angle formula for cosine can be obtained by replacing with / and taking the square-root of both sides: (/) = (+ ) /. Sine power-reduction formula: an illustrative diagram. The shaded blue and green triangles, and the red-outlined triangle E B D {\displaystyle EBD} are all right-angled and similar, and all contain the angle θ ...
To define the sine and cosine of an acute angle , start with a right triangle that contains an angle of measure ; in the accompanying figure, angle in a right triangle is the angle of interest. The three sides of the triangle are named as follows: [1] The opposite side is the side opposite to the angle of interest; in this case, it is . The ...
Trigonometric functions specify the relationships between side lengths and interior angles of a right triangle. For example, the sine of angle θ is defined as being the length of the opposite side divided by the length of the hypotenuse. The six trigonometric functions are defined for every real number, except, for some of them, for angles ...
In hyperbolic geometry, the "law of cosines" is a pair of theorems relating the sides and angles of triangles on a hyperbolic plane, analogous to the planar law of cosines from plane trigonometry, or the spherical law of cosines in spherical trigonometry. [1] It can also be related to the relativistic velocity addition formula. [2] [3]