7 Hard Trig Problems-Can You Solve These

Challenging Geometry Problems?

Updated on June 7, 2016

Trigonometry is an area of geometry that deals with lengths and angles of

triangles. And since many two-dimensional figures and three-dimensional sold
shapes can be broken down into triangles, trigonometry is also used to solve
many advanced problems involving more complicated shapes.
Trigonometric relations and functions are based on the relations between the
sides of right triangles. The sine of a non-right angle is the ratio of the opposite
side to the hypotenuse. The cosine is the ratio of the adjacent side to the
hypotenuse. And finally, the tangent is the ratio of the opposite side to the
adjacent side. Many people use the mnemonic "SohCahToa" to remember these
ratios. Try these seven hard geometry problems to test your skills at using trig to
find angles and lengths in triangles.

(1) Right Triangles of Equal Perimeter

Problem: The two right triangles shown above have equal perimeters. The
hypotenuse of the orange triangle is one leg of the green triangle stacked on top
of it. If the smallest angle of the orange triangles is 20 degrees, what are the
angles of the green right triangle?
Solution: We don't need to know the side lengths of the triangles to solve for the
unknown angles, only their relative lengths are necessary. For the sake of
simplicity, let the two legs of the orange triangle be cos(20) and sin(20), and let
the hypotenuse equal 1. The green triangle then has one leg of length 1, another
length of unknown length X, and a hypotenuse of sqrt(X"2 + 1).
Since the two triangles' perimeters
are equal, we have the equation
sin(20) + cos(20) + 1 =
1 + X + sqrt(X"2 + 1)
sin(20) + cos(20) =
X + sqrt(X"2 + 1)

cos(20)

If we use the technique for solving algebraic equations with square root and linear
terms, we get
[sin(20)

cos(20) - XJ A2

XA2

sin(20) 2 + 2sin(20)cos(20)
= XA2 + 1
A

1
=

2cos(20)A2 - 2sin(20)X - cos(20)X

2sin(20)cos(20) - 2sin(20)X - 2cos(20)X

X 2+1
+

XA2

XA2

2sin(20)cos(20) - 2sin(20)X - 2cos(20)X = O

X = sin(20)cos(20)/[sin(20 + cos(20)] = 0.250753
The angles of the green triangle are 90 degrees, arctan(X/1)"" 14.08 degrees,
and arctan(1/X)"" 75.92 degrees.

(2) Find the Missing Angles

Problem: Consider a triangle with one angle equal to 45 degrees. An altitude is

drawn to partition the original triangle into two smaller right triangles, colored
yellow and purple in the diagram above. If the area of the purple triangle is 1.5
times the area of the yellow triangle, what are the angles of the original whole
triangle?
Solution: An altitude line splits the triangle into two right triangles. The yellow
triangle is a 45-45-90-degree triangle, so its legs have equal length. Without any
loss of generality, we can set that length equal to 1. If the purple triangle has 1.5
times the area, then its leg lengths are 1 and 1.5.
Call the top unknown angle of the
purple triangle x degrees and the
bottom unknown angle (90-x)
degrees. From trigonometry, we
know that
tan(x) = 1.5/1 = 1.5
x = arctan(1.5)"" 56.31 degrees
Since 90 - 56.31 = 33.69 and 45 + 56.31 = 101.31, we now have all the angles of
the original triangle: 45 , 33.69 , and 101.31 .

(3) Isosceles Integer Triangle

sin(912) = (3R/4) I R = 314

fore

SoMng this
gives us the
90lution = 2"arclin(314) 11.11

11-.

3R
4

(8) Maximum Area of a Trlangle

Prablem: Two sides of a trlangle have lengths 5 and 7. Vt/hat lhould the length of
the third side be ao that the araa of the tllangle ls lllllllrnzad?
Salutlon: At. first glance, this opmmatiDn problem night Ham like one that should
be &01ved with calculus rather than elemenbuy lrigonomatry. H - call the mining
side X, then Heron's Fo1111Ula tellll ua lh8t the ara8 of the triangla i 8 function A(x)
gillen by the equation

A(X) = 0.25r11148-X"2 - X"4 - 576 )

The optimal value or x ii ol>lu'led by taking the deriYative or A(X), selling it equal
to zero, and toll.t'lg
X. However, there Is a ....,. lrlgonomelrlc eoklllon 1D Ihle
problem. Recall tlle lriangulllt etM formula
a lrianglll with two sidN or length P
and Q and an angle of between them:

rcr

17

ro,

Area 0.5P'Q...(8)

In our problem, P = 5 and Q = 7, the only varlable quantity In lhls equation la the
angle 8, which can range from O degraes to 180 dagraes. The &1'118 Is than
(3512)s1n(8). This area function Is irexlmzed when sin(&) Is irexlrnzed, and Iha
maximum value of N1(8) occurs at 8 90 degrees where sin(&) 1.
If 8 = 90 deg-. than the trlangla la a right lrlangla whosa lega ara 5 and 7 and
whoaa hypotenuaa la eqrt(74), Thua, the nilalng aide length should be a...(74)
8.to2S to achieve the mexhr11m area. The area of lhla triangle la 0.6"6"7 = 31112 =
17.5.

(7)

Right Trlanglu of Equal Area

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