Calculate the area of this triangle - OCR - GCSE Maths - Question 18 - 2018 - Paper 1

Question 18

Calculate the area of this triangle.
5.8 cm
3.9 cm
6.4 cm
Not to scale
Worked Solution & Example Answer:Calculate the area of this triangle - OCR - GCSE Maths - Question 18 - 2018 - Paper 1
Step 1: Find the Missing Angle Using the Cosine Rule

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To find the area of the triangle, we first need to use the cosine rule to find one of the angles. We denote the sides as follows:
- a = 6.4 cm
- b = 5.8 cm
- c = 3.9 cm
Using the cosine rule:
c2=a2+b2−2abcos(C)
Substituting the values:
(3.9)2=(6.4)2+(5.8)2−2⋅(6.4)⋅(5.8)⋅cos(C)
Solving this will give us the value for cos(C), and hence the angle C.
Step 2: Calculate the Area of the Triangle Using the Sine Formula

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With the angle C determined, we can calculate the area of the triangle using the formula:
Area=21absin(C)
Substituting the values for a, b, and the angle C we calculated:
Area=21⋅6.4⋅5.8⋅sin(C)
Solving this will give the area in square centimeters.
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