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Law of Cosines

Relationship between the three sides and an angle for non-right triangles.

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Law of Cosines

The Law of Cosines is a generalized Pythagorean Theorem that allows you to solve for the missing sides and angles of a triangle even if it is not a right triangle. Suppose you have a triangle with sides 11, 12 and 13. What is the measure of the angle opposite the 11?

Guidance

The Law of Cosines is:

\begin{align*}c^2=a^2+b^2-2ab \cdot \cos ⁡C \end{align*}

It is important to understand the proof:

You know four facts from the picture:

\begin{align*}a=a_1+a_2 \qquad \ (1)\end{align*}

\begin{align*}b^2=a_1^2+h^2 \qquad (2)\end{align*}

\begin{align*}c^2=a_2^2+h^2 \qquad (3)\end{align*}

\begin{align*}\cos C=\frac{a_1}{b} \qquad \quad (4)\end{align*}

Once you verify for yourself that you agree with each of these facts, check algebraically that these next two facts must be true.

\begin{align*}a_2=a-a_1 \qquad \ \ (5, \text{ from } 1)\end{align*}

\begin{align*}a_1=b \cdot \cos ⁡C \qquad (6, \text{ from } 4)\end{align*}

Now the Law of Cosines is ready to be proved using substitution, FOIL, more substitution and rewriting to get the order of terms right.

There are only two types of problems in which it is appropriate to use the Law of Cosines. The first is when you are given all three sides of a triangle and asked to find an unknown angle. This is called SSS like in geometry. The second situation where you will use the Law of Cosines is when you are given two sides and the included angle and you need to find the third side. This is called SAS.

Example A

Determine the measure of angle \begin{align*}D\end{align*}.

Solution: It is necessary to set up the Law of Cosines equation very carefully with \begin{align*}D\end{align*} corresponding to the opposite side of 230. The letters are not \begin{align*}ABC\end{align*} like in the proof, but those letters can always be changed to match the problem as long as the angle in the cosine corresponds to the side used in the left side of the equation.

Example B

Determine the length of side \begin{align*}p\end{align*}.

Solution:

Example C

Determine the degree measure of angle \begin{align*}N\end{align*}.

Solution: This problem must be done in two parts. First apply the Law of Cosines to determine the length of side \begin{align*}m\end{align*}. This is a SAS situation like Example B. Once you have all three sides you will be in the SSS situation like in Example A and can apply the Law of Cosines again to find the unknown angle \begin{align*}N\end{align*}.

Now that you have all three sides you can apply the Law of Cosines again to find the unknown angle \begin{align*}N\end{align*}. Remember to match angle \begin{align*}N\end{align*} with the corresponding side length of 38 inches. It is also best to store \begin{align*}m\end{align*} into your calculator and use the unrounded number in your future calculations.

Concept Problem Revisited

A triangle that has sides 11, 12 and 13 is not going to be a right triangle. In order to solve for the missing angle you need to use the Law of Cosines because this is a SSS situation.

Vocabulary

The Law of Cosines is a generalized Pythagorean Theorem that allows you to solve for the missing sides and angles of a triangle even if it is not a right triangle.

SSS refers to Side, Side, Side and refers to a property of congruent triangles in geometry. In this case it refers to the fact that all three sides are known in the problem.

SAS refers to Side, Angle, Side and refers to a property of congruent triangles in geometry. In this case it refers to the fact that the known quantities of a triangle are two sides and the included angle.

Included angle is the angle between two sides.

Guided Practice

1. Determine the length of side \begin{align*}r\end{align*}.

2. Determine the measure of angle \begin{align*}T\end{align*} in degrees.

3. Determine the measure of angle \begin{align*}S\end{align*} in radians.

1. \begin{align*}r^2 = 36^2 + 42^2 - 2 \cdot 36 \cdot 42 \cdot \cos 63\end{align*}

\begin{align*}r = 41.07 \ldots\end{align*}

2. \begin{align*}36^2 = (41.07 \ldots)^2+42^2-2 \cdot (41.07 \ldots) \cdot 42 \cdot \cos T\end{align*}

\begin{align*}T \approx 51.34 \ldots^\circ\end{align*}

3. You could repeat the process from the previous question, or use the knowledge that the three angles in a triangle add up to 180.

Practice

For all problems, find angles in degrees rounded to one decimal place.

In \begin{align*}\Delta ABC, a=12, b=15,\end{align*} and \begin{align*}c=20\end{align*}.

1. Find the measure of angle \begin{align*}A\end{align*}.

2. Find the measure of angle \begin{align*}B\end{align*}.

3. Find the measure of angle \begin{align*}C\end{align*}.

4. Find the measure of angle \begin{align*}C\end{align*} in a different way.

In \begin{align*}\Delta DEF, d=20, e=10,\end{align*} and \begin{align*}f=16\end{align*}.

5. Find the measure of angle \begin{align*}D\end{align*}.

6. Find the measure of angle \begin{align*}E\end{align*}.

7. Find the measure of angle \begin{align*}F\end{align*}.

In \begin{align*}\Delta GHI,g=19, \angle H=55^\circ,\end{align*} and \begin{align*}i=12\end{align*}.

8. Find the length of \begin{align*}h\end{align*}.

9. Find the measure of angle \begin{align*}G\end{align*}.

10. Find the measure of angle \begin{align*}I\end{align*}.

11. Explain why the Law of Cosines is connected to the Pythagorean Theorem.

12. What are the two types of problems where you might use the Law of Cosines?

Determine whether or not each triangle is possible.

13. \begin{align*}a=5, b=6, c=15\end{align*}

14. \begin{align*}a=1, b=5, c=4\end{align*}

15. \begin{align*}a=5, b=6, c=10\end{align*}

Vocabulary Language: English

Included Angle

Included Angle

The included angle in a triangle is the angle between two known sides.
SAS

SAS

SAS means side, angle, side, and refers to the fact that two sides and the included angle of a triangle are known.
SSS

SSS

SSS means side, side, side and refers to the fact that all three sides of a triangle are known in a problem.