Side Side Angle is very ambiguous because of the simple fact that you can use it for basically any non right triangle and given the information. You can then compete the whole triangle just by using the 2 sides and the one angle. Then using that information you find out how many solutions there are. That is the same exact reason we can not just use the Law of Sines. If we were to do that, we would get a answer but we would not know if there was another solution. To best explain this to someone who had little knowledge about it, first i would draw and angle. Label the angle and that side then draw in a height that reaches the bottom line connecting to the angle. I would show them how to find the height (h). Then proceed to show them the steps and equations by using the h. I would also teach and show them by using the h and the a (the opposite side) if there was 0 solutions, 1 solution or 2 solutions. The picture below helps show the triangle and how to find the amount of solutions.
|
Archives
February 2016
Categories |