00:01
It is helpful to start these problems with a sketch.
00:03
It doesn't have to be perfectly to scale, but a sketch allows you to see what's happening with your triangle and make sure that you are giving the best answer possible.
00:12
So let's start with angle b.
00:14
We're told that angle b is 48 degrees, 50 minutes.
00:24
Angle a will be somewhere down on this baseline for my triangle, and side a is over here at 3 ,000.
00:35
850 inches.
00:38
That leaves angle c to be at the top of my triangle.
00:42
The last piece of information we have, and i'm going to put this just here in parentheses so we don't lose it, side b equals 4 ,730 inches.
00:52
Well, my first question is, is side b long enough to make a triangle? it has to be at least as long as the height dropped from c down to that baseline for my triangle.
01:05
If it's shorter than that, height i don't have a triangle to work with.
01:09
So i can find the sign of angle b, which is 48 degrees 50 minutes, and that equals opposite, which here is that h, divided by the hypotenuse, or 3 ,850.
01:24
Evaluating that gives me a height of 2 ,898 inches.
01:31
Side b is bigger than that height, so we have a triangle.
01:35
In fact, b is bigger than side a, so we only have one...