41.1k views
3 votes
Three sides of a triangle measure 10m, 12m, and 18m. Find the largest angle of the triangle to the nearest degree.

User Ola Ekdahl
by
6.6k points

1 Answer

0 votes

Answer:

109°

Explanation:

The Law of Cosines is good for finding angles when you know three sides. It tells you ...

a^2 = b^2 + c^2 -2bc·cos(A)

where a, b, c are the side lengths and A, B, C are the opposite angles. Here, we want a=18, since the longest side is opposite the largest angle.

Solving for cos(A), we get ...

(b^2 +c^2 -a^2)/(2bc) = cos(A)

A = arccos((b^2 +c^2 -a^2)/(2bc)) = arccos((10^2 +12^2 -18^2)/(2·10·12))

= arccos(-80/240) = arccos(-1/3) ≈ 109.471°

The largest angle of the triangle is about 109°.

User Eyoab
by
6.6k points
Welcome to QAmmunity.org, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of our community.