Basic Trigonometry (Edexcel A Level Maths: Pure): Exam Questions

Exam code: 9MA0

4 hours42 questions
1
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1 mark

ABC is a right-angled triangle.

  • AB = 38 m

  • angle CAB = 74°

q1-basic-trigonometry-edexcel-a-level-pure-maths-easy

Calculate the length of AC.

Give your answer correct to one decimal place.

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2
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1 mark

Find the length of the side PQ in the triangle PQR below, giving your answer to one decimal place.

q2-5-1-basic-trigonometry-edexcel-a-level-pure-maths-easy

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3
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1 mark

ABC is a right-angled triangle.

  • BC = 15 cm

  • AB = 7 cm

  • angle BAC = 90°

A5De9tjn_q3-5-1-basic-trigonometry-edexcel-a-level-pure-maths-easy

Calculate the size of angle ACB.

Give your answer correct to three significant figures.

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4a
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2 marks

A ladder is placed against a wall.

The base of the ladder is 1.2 m away from the base of the wall and it reaches 6 m up the wall.

q4a-5-1-basic-trigonometry-edexcel-a-level-pure-maths-easy

To be safe to climb, the angle between the ladder and the ground must be between 65° and 75°.

Is the ladder safe to climb? You must show your working.

4b
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1 mark

Calculate the length of the ladder.

Give your answer to the nearest cm.

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5
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3 marks

PQR is a triangle with

  • angle PQR = 84°

  • PQ = 7.5 cm

  • QR = 9.2 cm

Use the cosine rule to calculate the length of PR.

q5-5-1-basic-trigonometry-edexcel-a-level-pure-maths-easy

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6
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3 marks

ABC is a triangle where

  • AC = 26 cm

  • BC = 18 cm

  • angle ABC = 54°

  • angle BAC = x° and x° is an acute angle

q6-5-1-basic-trigonometry-edexcel-a-level-pure-maths-easy

Use the sine rule to find x.

Give your answer to the nearest whole number.

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7
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2 marks

ABC is a triangle where

  • AC = 18.4 m

  • BC = 31.2 m

  • angle ACB = 58°

Find the area of triangle ABC, giving your answer to the nearest square metre.

q7-5-1-basic-trigonometry-edexcel-a-level-pure-maths-easy

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81 mark

Show that the cosine rule

a squared equals b squared plus c squared minus 2 b c space cos space A 

can  be rearranged into the form

cos space A equals fraction numerator b squared plus c squared minus a squared over denominator 2 b c end fraction

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1
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4 marks

ABC is a triangle where

  • AB has length 8.4 cm

  • BC has length 5.2 cm

  • angle ACB is 28°

  • angle BAC is x°

  • AC has length y cm

q2-5-1-basic-trigonometry-edexcel-a-level-pure-maths-medium

Find the values of x and y.

Give your answers to 3 significant figures.

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2
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3 marks

PQR is a triangle with

  • angle PQR = 39°

  • angle RPQ = 128°

  • PR = 2.6 cm

Find the length of QR, correct to 3 significant figures.

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3a
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2 marks

Triangle ABC has side lengths

  • AB = 5 cm

  • BC = 4 cm

  • AC = 7 cm

Find the size of the angle BAC, to the nearest degree.

3b
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2 marks

PQR is a triangle where

  • PQ = 12 cm

  • QR = 8 cm

  • angle PQR = 60°

Find the length of RP, giving your answer to 3 significant figures.

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4a
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2 marks

Two sides of a triangular garden are 2.8 m and 12 m long.

The two sides meet at an angle of 67°. 

Find the area of the garden, to 3 significant figures.

4b
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2 marks

Find the length of the third side of the garden, to 3 significant figures.

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5
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3 marks

The area of a triangle WXY is 75 cm2.  

Given

  • XY = 14.3 cm

  • angle WXY = 104°

find the length of WX, to 3 significant figures.

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6
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2 marks

Ship A, ship B and ship C are sailing around the coast.

  • Ship B is 0.2 km due south of ship A

  • Ship C is 0.9 km from ship B on a bearing of 027° from ship B

q-6-5-1-basic-trigonometry-edexcel-a-level-pure-maths-medium

Find the distance between ship A and ship C, to 2 significant figures.

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7
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5 marks

ABC is a triangle where

  • AB = 5.3 cm

  • BC = 6.4 cm

  • angle ACB = 38°

(i) In the case when angle BAC is obtuse, find its value, to 3 significant figures.

(ii) In the case when angle BAC is acute, find the size of angle ABC, to 2 significant figures.

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8a
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3 marks

A triangular field has an area of 10m2.

The field has two side lengths of 3.2 m and 8.4 m which have an angle of theta between them.

Show that one possible value for theta is 48.1°, to 1 decimal place.

8b1 mark

Find the other possible value of theta, to 1 decimal place.

8c
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3 marks

Using theta= 48.1°, find the perimeter of the field, to 3 significant figures.

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9
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5 marks

A student is calculating the angles inside a triangle with side lengths 3 cm, 4 cm and 5 cm, as shown in the diagram below.

They use the cosine rule to find x to the nearest degree.

q9-5-1-basic-trigonometry-edexcel-a-level-pure-maths-easy

Another student uses tan to the power of negative 1 end exponent open parentheses 4 over 3 close parentheses to calculate the same angle.

(i) Show clearly that both methods give the same answer.

(ii) Give a reason for the result in part (i).

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10a
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2 marks

Alpacas are kept in a field, ABCD, as shown in the diagram below.

  • AB has length 128 m

  • BC has length 72 m

  • CD has length 120 m

  • AD has length 68 m

q9a-5-1-basic-trigonometry-edexcel-a-level-pure-maths-medium

Given that the angle between AB and BC is 86°, find the length of AC, to the nearest metre.

10b
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3 marks

Find the angle between AD and CD, to the nearest degree.

10c
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3 marks

Find the area of the field, to 3 significant figures.

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11
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4 marks

Three telephone masts are used to triangulate locations.

  • Mast B is due west of mast A

  • Mast C is 0.7 km from mast B on a bearing of 136° from mast B

  • Mast C is 0.6 km from mast A

Find the two possible bearings of mast C from mast A.

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12a
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3 marks

The SaveMyExams logo is made up of a blue circle with a black lightning bolt through the centre.

The boss of the company is preparing a giant version of this logo for a company banner. 

Using a smaller version of the logo, he models the lightning bolt as two congruent triangles ABC and DEF where

  • AB = DE = 12 cm

  • BC = EF = 15 cm

  • AC = DF = 7 cm

as shown in the diagram below.

q-11a-5-1-basic-trigonometry-edexcel-a-level-pure-maths-medium

Angle ABC is alpha°.

Find the size of angle ABC, to 1 decimal place.

12b
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3 marks

For the banner, the boss wants to increase the side lengths of the smaller logo by a scale factor of 10.

Find the area the lightning bolt will take up on the banner, to 3 significant figures, in m2.

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13a
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2 marks

ABC is a triangle where

  • AB = 10 cm

  • AC = 17 cm

  • angle BAC is a acute

  • the area of triangle ABC is 40 cm2

Find the size of angle BAC, to the nearest degree.

13b
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2 marks

Find the length of BC, to 3 significant figures. 

13c
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2 marks

Find the size of angle BCA, to 3 significant figures.

13d
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3 marks

A point D is placed on the side AC such that the length of BD is equal to the length of BC.

Find the area of triangle BCD, giving your answer to 3 significant figures.

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1a
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3 marks

A parallelogram P Q R S has area 50cm2

Given

  • P Q has length 14 cm

  • Q R has length 7 cm

  • angle S P Q is obtuse

find the size of angle S P Q, in degrees, to 2 decimal places.

1b
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2 marks

Find the length of the diagonal S Q, in cm, to one decimal place.

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2a
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3 marks
A diagram showing points A, B and C, representing the locating of three phone masts as described in the question, with a 'North' arrow drawn coming out of point C.
Figure 1

Figure 1 is a sketch showing the position of three phone masts, A, B and C.

The masts are identical and their bases are assumed to lie in the same horizontal plane.

From mast C

  • mast A is 8.2 km away on a bearing of 072°

  • mast B is 15.6 km away on a bearing of 039°

Find the distance between masts A and B, giving your answer in km to one decimal place.

2b1 mark

An engineer needs to travel from mast A to mast B.

Give a reason why the answer to part (a) is unlikely to be an accurate value for the distance the engineer travels.

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3a3 marks

ABC is a triangle where

  • AB has length x cm

  • AC has length open parentheses x plus 8 close parentheses cm

  • angle BAC is 150°

The area of the triangle is 2 1 fourthcm2.

Show that x satisfies the equation

x squared plus 8 x equals 9

3b2 marks

Hence, find the value of x.

3c
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3 marks

Find the perimeter of triangle ABC, to 3 significant figures.

3d
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4 marks

Show that the sizes of the three angles in triangle ABC approximately satisfy the ratio

50 colon space 9 colon space 1

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4a
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3 marks

A triangle has side lengths of 7.3 cm, 9.8 cm and 10.6 cm.

Find the size of the largest angle in the triangle, to the nearest degree.

4b
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2 marks

A triangle has two sides of length 3 m and 5 m, with an angle between them of 45°.

Find the length of the third side, giving your answer to 3 significant figures.

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5
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4 marks

In the diagram below

  • PQ has length 13 cm

  • QR has length 5.8 cm

  • angle PSQ is 102°

  • angle QPR is x°

  • SQ has length y cm

Find the values of xand y, to 3 significant figures.

q2-5-1-basic-trigonometry-edexcel-a-level-pure-maths-hard

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6a4 marks

ABC is a triangle where

  • AB has length 2 x cm

  • BC has length open parentheses x plus 5 close parentheses cm

  • AC has length 7 cm

  • angle ABC is 60°

Find the exact value of x.

6b3 marks

The area of triangle ABC can be written in the form a square root of 6 plus b square root of 3, where a and b are integers.

Find a and b.

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7
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4 marks

ABC is a triangle where

  • AB = 2.8 cm

  • BC = 3.5 cm

  • angle ACB = 43°

A student wants to find the largest angle in triangle ABC.

By considering whether angle BAC is acute or obtuse, find the two possible values that the largest angle could be.

Give your answers to 1 decimal place.

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8
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4 marks

Ship A, ship B and ship C are sailing through a harbour.

  • Ship A is currently 127 m due east of Ship B

  • Ship C is currently 98 m from ship B on a bearing of 058° from ship B

Safety guidance says that, at all times, ships must be at least 50 m apart to avoid collisions.

Determine whether or not the ships are currently following the safety guidance.

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9
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6 marks

Three telephone masts are used to triangulate locations.

  • Mast A is due north of mast B

  • Mast C is 7.2 km from mast B on a bearing of 026° from mast B

  • Mast C is 3.6 km from mast A

(i) Find the two possible bearings of mast C from mast A.

(ii) Given that mast A and mast B are the farthest apart of the three masts, find the distance between mast A and mast B, to 2 significant figures.

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10a
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3 marks

A triangular field has an area of 157 m2.

  • Two of the sides have length 13.2 m and 28.4 m

  • theta° is the angle between these two sides

Find the possible values of theta.

10b
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3 marks

Given that theta is acute, find the perimeter of the field, to the nearest metre.

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11a
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5 marks

Unicorns are kept in a field, ABCD, as shown in the diagram below where

  • AB is a fence of length 145 m

  • BC is a fence of length 98 m

  • CD is a fence of length 215 m

  • AD is a fence of length 114 m

q9a-5-1-basic-trigonometry-edexcel-a-level-pure-maths-hard

Given that the angle between fence AB and fence AD is 102°, find the angle between the fence BC and fence CD, to 1 decimal place.

11b
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4 marks

Unicorns need at least 1234 m2 of space each to be happy.

Find the maximum number of unicorns that can be kept happily in the field.

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12a3 marks

ABC is a triangle where

  • AB has length 2 x cm

  • AC has length open parentheses x plus 6 close parentheses cm

  • angle BAC is 30°

The area of the triangle is 5 begin inline style 3 over 4 end style cm2.

Show that x satisfies the equation

2 x squared plus 12 x minus 23 equals 0

12b
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4 marks

Hence, find the perimeter of triangle ABC, to 3 significant figures.

12c
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3 marks

Given that angle ABC is obtuse, find the two missing angles in triangle ABC, to the nearest degree.

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13a
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3 marks

A car company is making a design for a new metal logo, as shown in the image below.

  • Points A, B, C and D all lie on the circumference of a circle 

  • AB, AC, AD, BC, and CD are chords of the circle

  • AB = CD

  • AB : BC : AC is equivalent to the ratio 2:4:5

  • angle CAD is x°

q11a-5-1-basic-trigonometry-edexcel-a-level-pure-maths-hard

A machine which makes the logo out of metal requires the size of angle ABC to be accurate to 1 decimal place.

Find the value of angle ABC that should be input into the machine.

13b
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4 marks

The machine will accept a range of values for angle CAD, as long as they are within plus-or-minus 0.5 degree of the true value.

Find the acceptable range of values for angle CAD that the machine will take, to 1 decimal place.

13c
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3 marks

The company wishes BC to be 1 inch in length.

Find the area of the quadrilateral ABCD in square inches, to 3 significant figures.

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14
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4 marks

An artist is designing a triangular sculpture, made using three equal lengths of metal piping.

When laid flat, the sculpture encloses an area of 21.8 m2.

Find the total length of metal piping needed, in metres to 2 decimal places.

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1a
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4 marks
Triangle ABC with side AC measuring 7 cm, AB is (x+2)cm, and BC is (3x+10)cm. Angle BAC is 60 degrees and angle ACB is theta degrees.
Figure 1

Figure 1 shows a sketch of triangle A B C with A B equals open parentheses x plus 2 close parentheses cm, B C equals open parentheses 3 x plus 10 close parentheses cm, A C equals 7 x cm, angle B A C equals 60 degree and angle A C B equals theta degree

(i) Show that 17 x squared minus 35 x minus 48 equals 0

(ii) Hence find the value of x.

1b
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2 marks

Hence find the value of theta giving your answer to one decimal place.

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2a
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3 marks

Triangle ABC has side lengths AB = 3 x cm, BC = 5 x cm and AC = 6x cm.

Find the size of the angle BAC, to 2 decimal places.

2b
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3 marks

Given that the total perimeter of the triangle is 37.8 cm, find the area of the triangle, to 3 significant figures.

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3a3 marks

ABC is a triangle where

  • AB has length 2 x cm

  • BC has length 10 cm

  • AC has length open parentheses 20 minus 2 x close parentheses cm

  • angle ABC is theta°

Show that

cos space theta equals fraction numerator p x plus q over denominator 2 x end fraction

where p and q are integers to be found.

3b4 marks

Given that cos space theta equals negative 1 half , find the exact area of the triangle.

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4a3 marks

Triangles PSQ and SQR are such that

  • PS = SQ = QR

  • PQ = 15 cm

  • QR = 2 x cm

  • angle PSQ = 120°

q4a-5-1-basic-trigonometry-edexcel-a-level-pure-maths-veryhard

Find the exact value of x.

4b2 marks

Find the exact area of triangle PQR.

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5a
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4 marks

An emergency call is picked up by both an ambulance and a police car about a road traffic accident.

The police car is 15 miles due east of the ambulance and on a bearing of 038° from the accident.

The ambulance is on a bearing of 325° from the accident.

Determine which vehicle, out of the ambulance and the police car, is nearest to the accident.

You must show your working clearly.

5b1 mark

A traffic officer says that the vehicle nearest to the accident will get to the accident first.

State one assumption that the traffic officer has made.

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65 marks

ABC is a triangle where

  • AB has length x cm

  • BC has length open parentheses 4 minus x close parentheses cm

  • angle BAC = theta

  • angle BCA = 30°

Given that sin space theta equals fraction numerator 1 over denominator square root of 2 end fraction , show that

x equals p open parentheses square root of q minus 1 close parentheses

where p and q are integers to be found.

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7
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7 marks

ABC is a triangle where

  • AB has length 3 x cm

  • AC has length open parentheses x plus 5 close parentheses cm

  • angle BAC = 150°

The area of triangle ABC is 7 begin inline style 1 fourth end stylecm2.

Show that the sizes of the three angles in triangle ABC approximately satisfy the ratio

25 colon space 3 colon space 1

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