Prove Laws of Sines and Cosines

What you'll learn

1. State the Law of Sines and explain its geometric meaning
2. Prove the Law of Sines using the altitude method
3. State the Law of Cosines and explain how it generalizes the Pythagorean Theorem
4. Prove the Law of Cosines using coordinate geometry and the Pythagorean identity
5. Use the Law of Sines to solve triangles given AAS, ASA, or SSA information
6. Use the Law of Cosines to solve triangles given SAS or SSS information
7. Distinguish between when to apply Law of Sines vs. Law of Cosines based on given information

Prerequisites

• Understand trigonometric ratios
• Explain sine and cosine relationship
• Derive triangle area formula