Definition: Law of sines

The Law of Sines is a mathematical formula used in trigonometry to relate the angles and sides of a triangle. It states that in any triangle, the ratio of the length of a side to the sine of its opposite angle is the same for all three sides.

Definition: Law of cosines

The Law of Cosines states that in any triangle, the square of one side is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides, minus twice the product of those two sides and the cosine of the angle between them.

Essentially, it is a generalization of the Pythagorean Theorem, which applies when you don’t have a right triangle. It allows you to find a missing side or angle when you have certain other information about the triangle.