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Fig. 1 – A triangle. The angles α (or A), β (or B), and γ (or C) are respectively opposite the sides a, b, and c.. In trigonometry, the law of cosines (also known as the cosine formula or cosine rule) relates the lengths of the sides of a triangle to the cosine of one of its angles.
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 ...
In mathematics, sine and cosine are trigonometric functions of an angle.The sine and cosine of an acute angle are defined in the context of a right triangle: for the specified angle, its sine is the ratio of the length of the side that is opposite that angle to the length of the longest side of the triangle (the hypotenuse), and the cosine is the ratio of the length of the adjacent leg to that ...
The law of cosines (known as the cosine formula, or the "cos rule") is an extension of the Pythagorean theorem to arbitrary triangles: [85] c 2 = a 2 + b 2 − 2 a b cos C , {\displaystyle c^{2}=a^{2}+b^{2}-2ab\cos C,}
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 sine rule gives C and then we have Case 7. There are ...
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:
In this formula the angle at C is opposite to the side c. This theorem can be proved by dividing the triangle into two right ones and using the Pythagorean theorem. The law of cosines can be used to determine a side of a triangle if two sides and the angle between them are known.
Illustration of the sum formula. Draw a horizontal line (the x -axis); mark an origin O. Draw a line from O at an angle α {\displaystyle \alpha } above the horizontal line and a second line at an angle β {\displaystyle \beta } above that; the angle between the second line and the x -axis is α + β {\displaystyle \alpha +\beta } .