A triangle has sides A, B, and C. The angle between sides A and B is pi/6 and the angle between sides B and C is pi/12. If side B has a length of 5, what is the area of the triangle?

1 Answer
Sep 7, 2016

Area ~~ 2.2877

Explanation:

If /_BC=pi/12 and /_AB=pi/6
then
color(white)("XXX")/_AC = pi- (pi/12+pi/6) =(3pi)/4

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By the Law of Sines:
color(white)("XXX")A/sin(/_BC)=B/sin(/_AC)=C/sin(/_AB)

With the given values:
color(white)("XXX")A/sin(pi/12)=5/sin((3pi)/4)=C/sin(pi/6)

So
color(white)("XXX")A=5/sin((3pi)/4)*sin(pi/12)~~1.830127019
and
color(white)("XXX")C=5/sin((3pi)/4)*sin(pi/6)~~3.535533906

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The semi-perimeter of the triangle, s, is
color(white)("XXX")s=(A+B+C)/2~~5.182830462

By Heron's Formula, the Area of the Triangle is
color(white)("XXX")A=sqrt(s(s-A)(s-B)(s-C))

color(white)("XXXX")~~2.287658774