SOLUTION: Sides of a triangle are 8,11,13.find the largest angle of the triangle Thank you!

Algebra.Com
Question 1205897: Sides of a triangle are 8,11,13.find the largest angle of the triangle
Thank you!

Found 2 solutions by ikleyn, Theo:
Answer by ikleyn(52778)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
.
Sides of a triangle are 8, 11, 13. find the largest angle of the triangle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The largest angle is opposite to the longest side, which is 13 units long.


Write the cosine law equation

    13^2 = 8^2 + 11^2 - 2cos(a)*8*11,

where "a" is the angle between the sides 8 and 11 units long.


You get then

    cos(a) =  =  = .


Hence,  a =  = 1.479761549 radians = 84.7840914 degrees.    ANSWER

Solved.



Answer by Theo(13342)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
the largest angle will be opposite the largest side.
if the triangle is ABC, then side a is opposite angle A, side b is opposite angle B, and side c is opposite angle C.

you can use the law of cosines to find angle C.
the law of cosines is c^2 = a^2 + b^2 - 2abcos(C).

that becomes 13^2 = 8^2 + 11^2 - 2*8*11*cos(C).
add 2*8*11*cos(C) to both sides of the and subtract 13^2 from both sides of the equation to get 2*8*11*cos(C) = 8^2 + 11^2 - 13^2.
divide both sides of the equation by (2*8*11) to get cos(C) = (8^2 + 11^2 - 13^2) / (2 * 8 * 11) = .0909091909.
arcos(.0909090909) = 84.78409143 degrees
that's angle C.

you can use the law of sines to find angle B.
that law says sin(C) / c = sin(B) / b.
that becomes sin(84.78409143)/13 = sin(B)/11.
solve for sin(B) to get sin(B) = sin(84.78409143)/13 * 11 = .8426500885.
arcsin(.842650885) = 57.42102961 degrees.

since the sum of the interior angles of a triangle = 180 degrees, then angle A = 180 - 84.78409143 - 57.42102961 = 37.79487896.

the largest angle is opposite the largest side and the smallest angle is opposite the smallest side with the middle angle opposite the middle side.

here are the results in a table of values.
side       sine of angle      angle
8          .612836428         37.79487896
11         .8426500885        57.42102961
13         .9958591955        84.78409143

sum of the angles is 180 as it should be.
here's my diagram


RELATED QUESTIONS

how do you find the largest angle of a triangle with sides 4cm, 7cm and... (answered by Theo)
if the sides of a right triangle are a=13, b=8, the angle B... (answered by jojo14344)
Find the largest angle of the Triangle whose sides are... (answered by ikleyn)
the altitudes of a triangle are 12, 15 & 20. Find the largest angle of the triangle. (answered by solver91311)
The sides of a triangle are x,y, and sqrt(x^2+xy+y^2). Find its largest angle. (answered by KMST)
The sides of a triangle are in the ratio of 4:5:6. Find the size of the largest angle in... (answered by Edwin McCravy)
The sides of a triangle measure 11 cm, 18cm, and 23 cm. Find the measure of the largest... (answered by Alan3354)
write an algebraic equation to describe the relationships of the sides of the triangle... (answered by JulietG)
The three sides of a triangle are 4,7,and 8. I need to find the largest side of a similar (answered by Tatiana_Stebko)