How do you solve the #triangle RST# given #R=35^circ, s=16, t=9#?

1 Answer
SoySoy4444
May 20, 2017

You're given the included angle. Use the Law of Cosines to solve this problem.
The formula : #a^2=b^2+c^2-2bc*cosA#
Let's replace #a# with #r#, #b# with #s#, and #c# with #t#.
Let's solve for side #r# first.
Substitute values.
#r^2=16^2+9^2-(2*16*9)*cos(35)#
#r^2=256+81-288*cos(35)#
#r^2approx337-235.92#
#r^2approx101.09#
#r approx 10.05#

Now, let's solve for angle S.
You can solve using the Law of Sines, but I'll just use the Law of Cosines because you didn't seem to know how to do it.

Also, for the sake of simplicity, I'll just use #r=10#
The rearranged formula of the Law of Cosines (and changed to our variables r, s and t) : #cos S = (r^2+t^2-s^2)/(2rt)#
Substitute values :
# cos S = (10^2+9^2-16^2)/(2*16*9)#
#cos S = (100+81-256)/288#
# cos S = -25/96#
#S=cos^-1 (-25/96)#
#S approx 74.91#

You can work out the remaining angle using the angles in a triangle add up to 180 rule.

Related questions
See all questions in The Law of Cosines
Impact of this question
2433 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License