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The law of sines can be tricky when you are only given the information of two sides and one angle because there is a possibility of two answers. How can this be you might ask, well if the opposite side from the given angle is greater than the vertical height of the triangle then it is possible that the unknown side could make either an obtuse or an acute. Cannot just use the law of sines to solve the triangle because it won't consider the possibility of a second triangle. This may be easier to understand through a picture. In this picture you can see that the if the length of the opposite side length is longer than the height of the triangle then two triangles can be made. If the opposite length is shorter than the height than a triangle cannot be made.
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AuthorLindsay is in Math Class Archives
February 2017
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