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HELP ME PLEASE. WITH AN EXPLANATION

HELP ME PLEASE. WITH AN EXPLANATION-example-1
User Amik
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1 Answer

4 votes

These are all the same. I don't know why me doing another one for you is doing either of us any good, but here goes.


The first step is to label the triangle. Here we have sides a and c, so we can assume the standard labeling, triangle ABC has vertices A, B and C. The three sides are labeled with a small letter corresponding to their opposite angle. So opposite vertex A is side a, opposite vertex B is side b, opposite vertex C is side c.


Now let's assign the knowns. The angle opposite side c is

C=15 degrees. The remaining side must be

b=2 cm with opposite angle

B=105 degrees.


OK, our unknown is a and we know it's a Law of Sines problem so we need A, the opposite angle. That's easy since the angles in a triangle add to 180 degrees,


A = 180 - B - C = 180 - 105 -15 = 60 degrees


A sixty degree angle! Trig's biggest cliche. Let's go on.


All right, we have all the ingredients to apply the Law of Sines:



(a)/(\sin A) = (b)/(\sin B)


I only write the part of the Law of Sines I need. I look at the data I have and I pick the right pair of fractions to equate. Now we solve for our unknown.



a = (b\sin A)/(\sin B)


Then we substitute in what we know.



a= (2 \sin 60)/(\sin 105) \approx 1.8


We put the whole thing into the calculator and get a long approximation which we round.

Answer: 1.8



This one you should be able to get an exact answer for. But I have no idea how you'd feed that one into these awful computer problem sites everyone seems to be using.


If you care, the exact answer is



a = (2 \sqrt 6)/(1 + \sqrt 3) = 3 \sqrt 2 - \sqrt 6


Type that in the box.


User Sbartell
by
5.1k points
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