Trigonometry Triangle Solutions Utility
Peter Jonnard
369 Followers
Description
Trigonometry Teachers!
Are you tired of using the laws of sines and cosines to calculate accurately the unknown sides and angles of triangles? Are you frustrated at the time it takes to generate two solutions to "the ambiguous case" when there are two possible solutions for a triangle? Look no further: I've written this spreadsheet just for you! (Well, actually, I wrote it because I kept making mistakes when I tried to generate solutions on my handheld calculator, but I found it so handy, I wanted to share it!)
Suppose you have a triangle with sides of 5, 6, and 7: here's what to do: click on the "SSS" tab of the excel spreadsheet, enter the three sides in the yellow highlighted cells, and it will calculate the opposite angle measures in both degrees and radians. It will throw in the area of the triangle as well!
Please take a look at the preview file to get an idea of how it works; you may want to compare your hand calculations of a 5 - 6 - 7 triangle with the solutions captured in the preview file. The spreadsheet computes the solutions in microseconds!
The excel spreadsheet has tabs for SAS, ASA, SAA, and SSA as well. You may specify your angles in both radians and/or degrees, and it will calculate all sides, angles, and the area of all possible triangles for you.
I've turned on protection of the cells so that you cannot accidentally damage your copy of the spreadsheet: it will only allow you to change the "input" cells in your spreadsheet. (If you turn off the cell protection to change the spreadsheet, make sure you store a digital copy of the original).
You may find it really handy to project on your board when you are having your students check their solutions.
Keywords: trigonometry, triangle solutions, the ambiguous case, law of sines, law of cosines, heron's formula, SSS, SAS, ASA, AAS, SAA, ASS, SSA, area of a triangle, Jonnard
Are you tired of using the laws of sines and cosines to calculate accurately the unknown sides and angles of triangles? Are you frustrated at the time it takes to generate two solutions to "the ambiguous case" when there are two possible solutions for a triangle? Look no further: I've written this spreadsheet just for you! (Well, actually, I wrote it because I kept making mistakes when I tried to generate solutions on my handheld calculator, but I found it so handy, I wanted to share it!)
Suppose you have a triangle with sides of 5, 6, and 7: here's what to do: click on the "SSS" tab of the excel spreadsheet, enter the three sides in the yellow highlighted cells, and it will calculate the opposite angle measures in both degrees and radians. It will throw in the area of the triangle as well!
Please take a look at the preview file to get an idea of how it works; you may want to compare your hand calculations of a 5 - 6 - 7 triangle with the solutions captured in the preview file. The spreadsheet computes the solutions in microseconds!
The excel spreadsheet has tabs for SAS, ASA, SAA, and SSA as well. You may specify your angles in both radians and/or degrees, and it will calculate all sides, angles, and the area of all possible triangles for you.
I've turned on protection of the cells so that you cannot accidentally damage your copy of the spreadsheet: it will only allow you to change the "input" cells in your spreadsheet. (If you turn off the cell protection to change the spreadsheet, make sure you store a digital copy of the original).
You may find it really handy to project on your board when you are having your students check their solutions.
Keywords: trigonometry, triangle solutions, the ambiguous case, law of sines, law of cosines, heron's formula, SSS, SAS, ASA, AAS, SAA, ASS, SSA, area of a triangle, Jonnard
Total Pages
5 pages
Answer Key
Does not apply
Teaching Duration
N/A
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369 Followers
