Question

Trig Q. Pic Attached. Will medal and fan. Help?

Answer 1

mhmm, solving for x?

Answer 2

Yeah.

Answer 3

The black and blue was given, orange is what I worked out.

Answer 4

So, which formula do you think we will need to use? Law of sines or Law of cosines?

Oh really? Let me check it all out then to make sure everything is correct, before calculating x. :)

Answer 5

All the angles look correct to me :)

Answer 6

The problem with the sines and cosines is that the triangle whose side length is x isn't a right triangle... we've only just started on right triangle trig.

Answer 7

When you work with the law of sines and cosines, it doesn't matter if the triangle is a right triangle :)

Answer 8

The law of sines and cosines is true for any type of triangle :D

Answer 9

Hmmm...

Answer 10

Wait... laws of sines and cosines? Like SOHCAHTOA?

Answer 11

Nope :P

Answer 12

That's all my teacher taught us so far. :/

Answer 13

Law of sines
\(\bf \Huge \frac{a}{sinA} = \frac{b}{sinB} = \frac{c}{sinC}\)

where, a, b, and c are the side lengths opposite of their respective angles.

and A, B, and C are the angles. :)

Answer 14

and the same for law of cosines?

Answer 15

nope, law of cosines is a different formula

give me a sec to type it out :)

Answer 16

Also, SOH CAH TOA only works for right triangles. so it will not possible to solve this using SOH CAH TOA

Answer 17

So how do sines and cosines work if there isn't a hypotenuse? B/c they aren't right triangles. ?

Answer 18

They do work - you can find how they are derived from a textbook or the internet.

Answer 19

And do you have to use those laws? Can the problem be solved without them?

Answer 20

You use those laws by plugging in all the information you are given and solving for what you weren't given. :)

Answer 21

So is the starred sign the hypotenuse? (for sin/cos)