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law of cosine

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A triangular garden 2020-05-24
From yoonji:
the 3 sides of a triangular garden measure 200 ft., 250 ft., and 300 ft., respectively. the garden is to be divided by a line bisecting the longest side and drawn from the opposite vertex. what is the length of the bisecting line?
Answered by Penny Nom.
An angle i a triangle 2020-05-16
From Ogunjobi:
Two goal post are 8m apart a footballer is 34 m from one post and 38m from the other within what angle must he kick the ball if he is to score
Answered by Penny Nom.
A footballer angle 2018-02-14
From Kim:
Two goal posts are 8m apart. A footballer is 34m from one post and 38m from the other. Within what angle must he kick the ball if he is to score a goal.
Answered by Penny Nom.
How far apart are the boats? 2016-12-13
From Halley:
Two boats leave port at the same time. Boat A travels east at a speed of 12 km/hr. Boat B travels southwest at a speed of 14 km/hr. After two hours, how far apart are the boats? North is 0 degrees. How do I figure this out. Thanks
Answered by Penny Nom.
Two airplanes 2015-04-14
From john:
two planes leave an airport at the same time, one going northwest (N35*W)at 400 mph and the other going east at 332 mph. How far apart are the planes after 4 hours to the nearest mile?
Answered by Penny Nom.
A triangular chicken pen 2014-04-27
From Cierra:
Margaret has two lengths of fence, 20 meters and 24 meters, for two sides of a triangular chicken pen. The third side will be on the north side of the barn. One fence length makes a 75° angle with the barn. How many different pens can she build if one fence is attached at the corner of the barn? What are all the possible lengths for the barn side of the pen?

Not sure what they are asking here... please show step by step what to do! Thank you so much!

Answered by Penny Nom.
The sides of a triangle 2014-04-06
From Michael:
I am supposed to sove for the length of side "b" of an irregular triangle. I am given the following:
Side a: 65'
Side b: Find this length
Side c: 50'
Angle A: unknown
Angle B: unknown
Angle C: 52 degrees
I am supposed to use the law of cosines to solve for side "b" and my teacher says there is no mistake in the "givens" for the problem. I do not see how this can be done using the law of cosines and i have not figured out how to sove for angle B to use the law of cosines.

Answered by Penny Nom.
A triangle problem 2013-10-02
From raneem:
ABC is a triangle in which : BC=20cm. M(<B) =29 and m(<C)=73 . D is the midpoint of BC Find the length Of AB and AD approximated to 2 decimal places
Answered by Penny Nom.
The fourth side of an irregular polygon 2013-02-01
From Emran:
I have a irregular polygon. I know 3 of the 4 sides, and 2 of the angles. A-B is 285, B-C is 149, and C-D is 310. Angle B is 135 degrees. and Angle C is 45 degrees. Is there a formula to solve for the final side? Thanks.
Answered by Penny Nom.
Three sides of a triangle 2011-12-24
From saba:
the three sides of a triangular lot have lengths 10,11and 13cm,respectively. find the measure of its largest angle and the area of the lot?
Answered by Penny Nom.
How far must the pitcher travel to get to the ball? 2010-11-04
From ken:
A baseball player bunts a ball down the first base line. It rolls 35ft at an angle of 26 degrees with the first base path. The pitchers mound is 60.5 ft from the plate. How far must he travel to get to the ball.
Answered by Penny Nom.
A radio tower 2010-03-26
From Alex:
The height of a radio tower is 450 feet, and the ground on one side of the tower slopes upward at an angle of 10 degrees. How long should a guy wire be if it is to connect to the top of the tower and be secured at a point on the sloped side 110 feet from the base of the tower?
Answered by Harley Weston.
A quadrilateral with 4 known sides and 1 known angle 2010-03-19
From samuel:
Name: Samuel
Status: Student

I have a quadrilateral with 4 known sides and 1 known angle, and I'm trying to evaluate the other angles of my quadrilateral.

By the law of cosines, I can easily find my opposite angle (using the diagonal as a basis for the equation).

However, to find the two remaining angles, I have found no other way so far than to use the other diagonal, which can be found with the equation attached (from geometry atlas).

Is there any simpler way?

Answered by Robert Dawson and Harley Weston.
Solving a triangle 2010-01-25
From Paige:
how do i solve a triangle with one angle of 73 degrees, one angle of 32 degrees, and one side of 23cm?
Answered by Harley Weston.
A trig question 2009-12-15
From A trig question:
Hey, my name is Candle
I'm in academic math10 and am stuck on my trig... one question I thought I had right because i used the cosine law I got wrong and can't figure out why... here's a copy of the question. (i guessed it was D... but my teacher said it's B)
Thanks
Candle

Answered by Robert Dawson.
How fast is the distance between the two cars decreasing? 2009-12-08
From Jenny:
Two cares are on a collision course toward point P. The paths of the two cars make a 30 degree angle with each other. The first car is 40 km from P, and traveling toward P at 16 km/hour. The second car is 50 km from P, traveling at 20 km/hour. How fast is the (straight line) distance between the two cars decreasing. (Hint: Law of Cosines)
Answered by Harley Weston.
Vectors and the Law of Cosine 2009-06-08
From lauren:
once force of 20 pounds and one force of 15 pounds act on a body at the same point so that the resultant force is 19 pounds. Find, to the nearest degree, the angle between the two original forces
Answered by Janice Cotcher.
Related rates 2009-03-09
From Megan:
A plane flying with a constant speed of 330 km/h passes over a ground radar station at an altitude of 3 km and climbs at an angle of 30°. At what rate is the distance from the plane to the radar station increasing a minute later?
Answered by Harley Weston.
Find the resultant of this displacement pair 2009-02-22
From katydidit:
Find the resultant of this displacement pair:
500 miles at 75 degrees east of north and 1500 miles at 20 degrees west of south.
How do I graph this and how do I solve this problem?

Answered by Penny Nom.
The angle between two lines 2008-12-17
From abhi:
how to calculate the angle between two lines, given the length of the lines.. angle should vary from 0 - 360 in the counterclockwise direction
Answered by Robert Dawson and Harley Weston.
The path of a small sailboat 2008-11-19
From jane:
a sailor in a small sailboat encounters shifting winds. she sails 2.00 km East then 3.40 km North East, then an additional distance in an unknown direction. Her final position is 6.68 km directly east of the starting point. find the magnitude & direction of the third leg of the voyage.
Answered by Harley Weston.
How far are the boats apart? 2008-11-14
From dom:
Two boats leave port at the same time. They leave at 150 degree angle. One boat travels at 10mph and the other at 20mph. After two hours how far are the boats apart?
Answered by Penny Nom.
The angles and sides of a triangle 2008-11-13
From JAMIE:
a triangle with a side(b)37m an angle(C)70degrees and (a)79m find values of angles A and B and length of side c
Answered by Stephen La Rocque.
Radii and Chords Create a Non-Right Triangle 2008-08-22
From Beary:
AOC is a diameter of circle O. Line AB is 12, and lines OA and OC (the radii) are 10. Find the length of line BO and chord BC.
Answered by Janice Cotcher.
Arc-length and sector-angle 2008-08-06
From Benson:
If chord length, radius are given, How to find the sector angle and arc-length
Answered by Janice Cotcher.
Guy wires for a tower 2008-05-19
From larissa:
a radio tower 500 feet high is located on the side of a hill ( the hill has an inclination to the horizontal of 5 degrees.) How long should two guy wires be if they are connected to the top of the tower and are secured at two points 100 feet directly above ( up the hill ) and directly below the base of the tower?
Answered by Penny Nom.
The length of the third side of a triangle 2008-02-16
From mary:
I have an angle of 72 degrees and each of the sides are 5' long. What is the distance from each of the ends of the 5 feet to form a triangle.
Answered by Stephen La Rocque.
The angles of a triangle given the three sides 2008-01-17
From Lucy:
Is there a way to find the angles of a triangle just by knowing the lengths of it's sides? It seems like the would be a relationship between the two, but I'm not sure.
Answered by Stephen La Rocque and Harley Weston.
How far is the jet from the lighthouse? 2008-01-07
From Natalie:
Question: A ship spots a lighthouse that is 53m high, at an angle of elevation of 7 degrees that is directly north of the ship. The same ship spots a jet travelling N62E at an altitude of 1500m with an angle of elevation of 15 degrees. How far is the jet from the lighthouse?

Natalie

Answered by Harley Weston.
Area of a quadrilateral 2007-10-10
From Courtney:
how would i find the area of a quadrilateral..
the sides are a (/) is 6cm, b (—) is 9 cm, and c (\) is 7 cm..
the angle between a and b is 140 degrees and b and c is 115 degrees..

Answered by Stephen La Rocque.
The length of the third side of a triangle 2007-08-15
From Brooklyn:
What is the equation to find the length of the third side of a triangle if you have the length of A, B, and the angles(s)?
Answered by Stephen La Rocque.
Calculating the area (acreage) of a four sided lot 2007-07-18
From A property owner:
I have a real estate property and the lot size is something I need to find out. I know the lengths of the four sides, but it isn't a rectangle, it is an odd shape. How do I find the acreage?
Answered by Stephen La Rocque.
Any regular polygon inscribed in a circle 2007-07-12
From DJ:
Circle with r=12" is inscribed in a regular octagon. What is the length of each octagon segment? Note: Our answer works for any regular polygon inscribed in any circle.
Answered by Stephen La Rocque.
The area of a quadrilateral 2007-06-10
From Lucy:
Calculate the area of the quadrilateral ABCD. AB= 4.1cm, BC = 7.6cm, AD= 5.4 cm, CD= ? Angle ABC = 117, Angle ADC = 62. Give your answer correct to 3 significant figures.
Answered by Stephen La Rocque and Penny Nom.
The law of cosines 2007-03-23
From chetna:
Q 1) In triangle LMN, l=7, m=5 , n=4. find ANGLE N. After applying the rule and substituting values i'm getting Cos n= 58/40. Is there something wrong. The answer at the back of the book is 34 degrees.
Answered by Penny Nom.
A trig problem 2006-06-24
From Greg:
A and B are two towers, B being 4 km due east of A. The true bearings of a flagpole, C, from A and B are α east of north and α west of north respectively. The true bearings of a second flagpole, D, from A and B are (α + β) east of north and (α - β) west of north respectively. Assuming A, B, C, and D are on level ground, and that α = 25, β = 10, find the distance between C and D.
Answered by Penny Nom.
The chord length of a polygon 2006-06-14
From Krishna:
I have to find out the chord length of a polygon - Tetradecagon ! The Radius of the Circle is 11.5 Cms. The Circle is intersepted by 14 arcs. Then how to find out the chord length?
Answered by Stephen La Rocque.
Three towns are located at the vertices of an equilateral triangle 2006-03-20
From A student:
three towns are located at the vertices of an equilateral triangle. The towns are 8, 5, and 3 miles, respectively, from a store. How far apart are the towns?
Answered by Chris Fisher.
How do you find the angles in a triangle? 2006-01-27
From Keith:
How do you find the angles in a triangle if you know the lengths of the sides?
Answered by Chris Fisher and Penny Nom.
Solving triangles 2004-10-30
From Allen:
Solve the following triangles.

Given

1. B = 20 Degrees, a = 25, b = 16
2. A = 35 Degrees, b = 2, c = 3
3. A = 32 Degrees, C = 44, c = 20

Answered by Harley Weston.
Finding bearings 2004-05-24
From James:
This question is about finding bearings. A boat race starts from point A, goes North to Point B, a distance of 1000 meters. The course is triangular. The bearing from point B to point C is South 70degrees West. The distance from Point B to point C is 1500 meters. Find the course bearing from C to A.
Answered by Penny Nom.
Laws of sines and cosines 2003-11-23
From A parent:
On the one side of a stream lines PA= 586.3 feet, PB = 751.6 feet are measures, angle APB being 167 degrees and 36 min. Q is a point on the opposite side of the stream. Angle PAQ=63 degress and 18 min and PBQ=49 degrees and 24 min. Find PQ.
Answered by Penny Nom.
Two trig problems 2003-06-10
From Bett:

I have this ongoing trouble with trig and solving triangles with laws of cosines and sines!! For example if it asks to solve triangle FGH, given angle G=102.7 , side f=14.2, and h=18.6. Now do I use law of cosines because I don't have the measure of an angle and length of the opposite side??I don't know where to go from here,I am totally confused!!!

I also have a problem with this word problem I have been doing. It asks: An airplane flies 847.5 km at a bearing of 237.3 degrees. How far south and west fo its original position is it? Huh? Please help!


Answered by Penny Nom.
How far apart are the transmitters? 2002-05-18
From Jeff:
A ship at sea is 70 miles from one transmitter and 130 miles from another. The measurement of the angle between the signals is 130 degrees. How far apart are the transmitters?
Answered by Penny Nom.
The law of cosines and obtuse angles 2002-05-09
From Bryant:
The question that I am pondering is that I need to derive the law of cosines for a case in which angle C is an obtuse angle.
Answered by Penny Nom.
Adding vectors 2002-01-12
From Lena:
how do you add vectors together?
If you are given the length and angles of both vectors and are asked to add/subtract them, how do you do it? I know you are supposed to do the head to tail method, but whenever i try it i get the wrong answer. I need help setting it up.

example: A is 2.7cm, and 60 degrees, B is 1.6cm and 135 degrees, find the magnitude and amplitude


Answered by Penny Nom.
The speed of the boat 2001-07-12
From Sharon:
A motor boat is travelling in a southeasterly direction in water that is flowing from the south at 2km per hour. Show that the speed of the boat is (6 times the square root of 2) km per hour, given that it can travel at 10km per hour in still water.
Answered by Penny Nom.
The angles in a triangle 2001-05-11
From Nikki:
Find the measure, to the nearest degree, of each angle of a triangle with sides of the given lengths.

26, 35, 40


Answered by Penny Nom.
The law of cosines in the real world 2001-02-21
From Hope:
Do you have any examles and/or labs that show how the law of cosines is used in the real world?
Answered by Harley Weston.
Law of cosines 2001-02-20
From Emily:
I missed a few days of class and I can't figure out how to solve Law of Cosines problems. I have the notes and formulas but I can't figure out how to do the math involved to answer the problems. I am also getting confused about how to use degrees and seconds in the Law of Sine and Cosine. I can't seem to get the correct answers and I don't really know how to solve them and enter them into my TI 86.
Answered by Harley Weston.
The laws of sines and cosines 2001-01-02
From Faydene:
Can the sine /cosine rule be applied to a right -angle triangle to find a particular solution or are these 'rules' applied only when the triangle is not right angled?
Answered by Penny Nom.
Sines & cosine laws 1999-12-10
From Pierre Boivin:
Triangle LMN, angle L=71 degree , LM= 7.2 , MN=8.3 , ln= 5.9

The questiion was to find angle M. Using the cosine law I found the answer to be 44 degree. It is also the book answer. Using the sines law I found the answer to be 42.2 degree. why can't I use the sines law.
Answered by Chris Fisher.

From an airport control tower 1999-08-04
From Pammy:
Hi I am a 30 yo mature age student doing my HSC but am having difficulty understanding this, if you can help me.

From an airport control tower, a Cessna bears 023 degrees T and is 27km away. At the same time, a Boeing 767 bears 051 degrees T and is 61km from the tower. Both planes are at the same height.

i) What is the size of angle ATB?

ii) Using the cosine rule to calculate the distance the planes are apart, to nearest kilometre.

I figured out and drew the triangular diagram but can't figure out the rest and which formula to use. sorry about this, thankyou kindly
Answered by Harley Weston.

Ajax, Beverley, Canton and Dilltown 1997-03-14
From S. Johnson:
The following towns are placed on a coordinate system. Ajax at (-x,z), Dilltown at (-10,0), Canton at (0,0) and Beverly at (0,10). The roads from Beverly to Canton and from Canton to Dilltown are perpendiculat to each other and are each 10 miles in length. A car traveling at all times at a constant rate, would take 30 minutes to travel straight from Ajax to Canton, 35 minutes to travel from Ajax to Canton via Beverly, and 40 minutes to travel from Ajax to Canton via Dilltown. What is the constant rate of the car, to the nearest tenth of a mile per hour.
Answered by Chris Fisher and Harley Weston.
 
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