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Fig. 7a – Proof of the law of cosines for acute angle γ by "cutting and pasting". Fig. 7b – Proof of the law of cosines for obtuse angle γ by "cutting and pasting". One can also prove the law of cosines by calculating areas. The change of sign as the angle γ becomes obtuse makes a case distinction necessary. Recall that
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:
As noted above, the vector-based proof is circular: the proof that the dot product of two vectors has a geometric interpretation in Euclidian space is itself based on the law of cosines. So using the geometric interpretation of a dot product to prove the law of cosines is a bit problematic... --Delirium 03:17, 13 November 2005 (UTC)
The proof (Todhunter, [1] Art.49) of the first formula starts from the identity = , using the cosine rule to express A in terms of the sides and replacing the sum of two cosines by a product. (See sum-to-product identities .)
There are several equivalent ways for defining trigonometric functions, and the proofs of the trigonometric identities between them depend on the chosen definition. The oldest and most elementary definitions are based on the geometry of right triangles and the ratio between their sides.
The law of cosines ... Proof: It is known that the area of a triangle inscribed in a circle of radius is: = Writing the area of the quadrilateral as sum of two ...
In French, the law of cosines is named Théorème d'Al-Kashi (Theorem of Al-Kashi), as al-Kashi was the first to provide an explicit statement of the law of cosines in a form suitable for triangulation. [15] His other work is al-Risāla al-muhītīyya or "The Treatise on the Circumference". [16]
In hyperbolic geometry, the "law of cosines" is a pair of theorems relating the sides and angles of triangles on a hyperbolic plane, analogous to the planar law of cosines from plane trigonometry, or the spherical law of cosines in spherical trigonometry. [1] It can also be related to the relativistic velocity addition formula. [2] [3]