Solving an oblique triangle. Looking for a correctness check

  • Thread starter Thread starter opus
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Triangle
Click For Summary

Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around solving an oblique triangle given two angles and one side length. The original poster presents their calculations using the Law of Sines to find the unknown side lengths and angles.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Mathematical reasoning

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster attempts to solve for the unknowns using the Law of Sines after determining the third angle. They express uncertainty about how to verify their results in the context of an oblique triangle.

Discussion Status

Some participants suggest the Law of Cosines as a potential method for verification, while the original poster acknowledges their unfamiliarity with it. The original poster later indicates that they believe their answers are correct after further exploration.

Contextual Notes

The original poster notes that they have not yet covered the Law of Cosines in their studies, which may limit their ability to check their work effectively.

opus
Gold Member
Messages
717
Reaction score
131

Homework Statement


Solve the triangle with the given information:
A= 40°, B= 20°, a= 100m

Homework Equations



The Law of Sines
##\frac{sin\left(A\right)}{a}##=##\frac{sin\left(B\right)}{b}##=##\frac{sin\left(C\right)}{c}##

The Attempt at a Solution


This is a AAS triangle. And since I'm given two angles, I can find the third by subtracting the two given angles from 180°.
$$∠C=180°-40°-20°=120°$$

I now use the Law of Sines to find the unknowns. I start by finding length b.
$$\frac{a}{sin\left(A\right)}=\frac{b}{sin\left(B\right)}$$
$$\frac{100}{sin\left(40°\right)}=\frac{b}{sin\left(20°\right)}$$
$$b≈53.209$$

Next I'll solve for length c, again using the Law of Sines.
$$\frac{c}{sin\left(C\right)}=\frac{b}{sin\left(B\right)}$$
$$\frac{c}{sin\left(120°\right)}=\frac{53.209}{sin\left(20°\right)}$$
$$c≈134.730$$

Solution:
∠A= 40°
∠B= 20°
∠C= 120°
a= 100 m
b≈ 53.209 m
c≈ 134.730 m

I think I did this correctly. But I don't know how to check this to see if my solution is correct. In a right triangle, I would add the angles up to see if they're equal to 180°, and use Pythagorean's Theorem to check the legs. However in this case, it's an oblique triangle and I can't use Pythagoeran's Theorem. So how can I check this?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
We haven't gone over that yet. I will look into that. You're saying I can check these solutions with it?
 
After playing around with it a little bit, it looks like my answers were correct (assuming I was using it correctly, but it seems pretty straight forward). Thank you!
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
4K
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
2K
Replies
8
Views
6K
Replies
7
Views
2K
Replies
5
Views
3K
Replies
5
Views
2K
  • · Replies 12 ·
Replies
12
Views
3K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
2K
  • · Replies 21 ·
Replies
21
Views
4K