Law of sines
In trigonometry, the law of sines (or sine law) is a statement about arbitrary triangles in the plane. If the sides of the triangle are (lower-case) a, b and c and the angles opposite those sides are (capital) A, B and C, then the law of sines states
- <math>{\sin A \over a}={\sin B \over b}={\sin C \over c}.\,<math>
This formula is useful to compute the remaining sides of a triangle if two angles and a side is known, a common problem in the technique of triangulation. It can also be used when two sides and one of the non-enclosed angles are known; in this case, the formula may give two possible values for the enclosed angle. When this happens, often only one result will cause all angles to be less than 180°; in other cases, there are two valid solutions to the triangle.
The reciprocal of the number described by the sine law (i.e. a/sin(A)) is equal to the diameter D of the triangle's circumcircle (the unique circle through the three points A, B and C). The law can therefore be written
- <math>{a \over \sin A }={b \over \sin B }={c \over \sin C }=D.<math>
Derivation
Make a triangle with sides a, b, and c, and opposite angles A, B, and C. Make a line from the angle C to its opposite side c that cuts the figure into two right triangles, and call the length of this line h.
It can be observed that:
- <math>\sin A = \frac{h}{b}<math> and <math>\; \sin B = \frac{h}{a}<math>
Therefore:
- <math>h = b\,\sin A = a\,\sin B<math>
and
- <math>\frac{\sin A}{a} = \frac{\sin B}{b}.<math>
Doing the same thing with the line drawn between angle A and side a will yield:
- <math>\frac{\sin B}{b} = \frac{\sin C}{c}<math>
See also
Categories: Trigonometry