Dr.

Neal, WKU

MATH 117

The Law of Sines

Besides Side-Angle-Side (SAS) and Side-Side-Side (SSS), there are two other congruence forms that completely determine a triangle. These are Angle-Side-Angle (ASA) and Side-Angle-Angle (SAA). In each case, the third angle can be determined because all the angles must sum to 180. So with ASA and SAA, we have all three angles, but we must find the other two sides. The Law of Cosines will not apply because it requires two sides to find the third side. And we may not have a right triangle, so we usually cant use right-triangle trig. In this case, we use the Law of Sines. We again label the sides of the triangle as a , b , c and the angles as A , B , and C . As usual, side a is opposite angle A , side b is opposite angle B , and side c is opposite angle C . Then,
B

a b c = = sin A sin B sin C

Law of Sines
C

c A b

Example 1. Find the remaining sides in the following triangles:

85 c 10 55 a (i)
w 100

40

30 v (ii)

Solution. (i) First, let A = 85 and C = 55. Then B = 180 85 55 = 40. The given side is b = 10. To find sides a and c , we have

a 10 = sin85 sin40 c 10 = sin55 sin 40

! !

a= c=

10 sin85 ! 15.498 sin 40 10 sin55 ! 12.7437 sin 40

(ii) Let W = 30 and V = 180 100 30 = 50. Then

w 40 v = = sin30 sin100 sin 50

! w=

40 sin30 ! 20.3 sin100

and v =

40 sin 50 ! 31.114 sin100

Dr. Neal, WKU

When we have Side-Angle-Side, then we can use the Law of Cosines to find the third side. But it may be easier to use the Law of Sines to find the other two angles. But now we use the reciprocal form:

sin A sin B sin C = = a b c

Example 2. Find the remaining side and angles in the triangle below:

B 50

A 40

30

Solution. To find side c , we use the Law of Cosines: c 2 = 402 + 502 ! 2(40)(50) cos 30 ;

c = (402 + 502 ! 2 " 40 " 50 " cos30) ! 25.217

Now let c = 25.217, C = 30, a = 50, and b = 40. Then

sin A sin 30 sin B = = 50 25.217 40 50 sin30 40 sin30 and sin B = . But both of these equations have two 25.217 25.217 solutions, a first quadrant angle and a second quadrant angle. However, the two shortest sides in a triangle must have opposite angles that are acute (less than 90). Thus, angle B must be less than 90 .
Then, sin A =
!1 " 40 sin30% ' ! 52.4776. Finally, A ! 180 30 52.4776 = 97.5224. So B = sin $ # 25.217 &

" 50 sin30 % Note: Using the inverse sine to solve for A , we have sin !1 $ ' ! 82.478 which is # 25.217 & not the correct value of A . We then need A = 180 82.478 to give an obtuse (second quadrant) angle.

Dr. Neal, WKU

Side-Side-Angle (SSA) A congruence form that may not give a unique triangle is side-side-angle. If the given angle is small enough, then there could be two triangles made. But if the given angle is obtuse, then there will be only one possible triangle. Example 3. Consider a triangle with A = 20, b = 17, and a = 10. Give two possibilities for the dimensions of this triangle. Solution. From the drawing, we see that we have SSA. So we cannot use the Law of sin A sin B Cosines and the only relationship we can establish is which gives = a b sin20 sin B 17 sin 20 . Thus, sin B = which has two solutions: = 10 17 10

One Solution:

B = sin $ #

!1 " 17 sin20 %

17

10

' ! 35.55 &

20

10

Another Solution:

17

B = 180 35.55 ! 144.45

20 B

10

17

10

10

20

Side-Side-Angle May Give Two Solutions