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The law of cosines generalizes the Pythagorean theorem, which holds only for right triangles: if is a right angle then =, and the law of cosines reduces to = +. The law of cosines is useful for solving a triangle when all three sides or two sides and their included angle are given.
If the law of cosines is used to solve for c, the necessity of inverting the cosine magnifies rounding errors when c is small. In this case, the alternative formulation of the law of haversines is preferable. [3] A variation on the law of cosines, the second spherical law of cosines, [4] (also called the cosine rule for angles [1]) states:
The spherical cosine formulae were originally proved by elementary geometry and the planar cosine rule (Todhunter, [1] Art.37). He also gives a derivation using simple coordinate geometry and the planar cosine rule (Art.60). The approach outlined here uses simpler vector methods. (These methods are also discussed at Spherical law of cosines.)
Using the law of cosines avoids this problem: within the interval from 0° to 180° the cosine value unambiguously determines its angle. On the other hand, if the angle is small (or close to 180°), then it is more robust numerically to determine it from its sine than its cosine because the arc-cosine function has a divergent derivative at 1 ...
In mathematics, sine and cosine are trigonometric functions of an angle.The sine and cosine of an acute angle are defined in the context of a right triangle: for the specified angle, its sine is the ratio of the length of the side that is opposite that angle to the length of the longest side of the triangle (the hypotenuse), and the cosine is the ratio of the length of the adjacent leg to that ...
By the spherical law of cosines: , = , , + , , Take the spherical triangle of the tetrahedron X {\displaystyle X} at the point P i {\displaystyle P_{i}} . The sides are given by α i , l , α k , j , λ {\displaystyle \alpha _{i,l},\alpha _{k,j},\lambda } and the only known opposite angle is that of λ {\displaystyle \lambda ...
Similar right triangles illustrating the tangent and secant trigonometric functions Trigonometric functions and their reciprocals on the unit circle. The Pythagorean theorem applied to the blue triangle shows the identity 1 + cot 2 θ = csc 2 θ, and applied to the red triangle shows that 1 + tan 2 θ = sec 2 θ.
The red section on the right, d, is the difference between the lengths of the hypotenuse, H, and the adjacent side, A.As is shown, H and A are almost the same length, meaning cos θ is close to 1 and θ 2 / 2 helps trim the red away.