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Question: If two angles of a triangle $ABC$ are $\arctan 2$ and $\arctan 3$, what is the third angle?

My attempt: Let the third angle of the triangle $ABC$ be $x$.

$\therefore$ $\arctan 2+\arctan 3+ x=\pi$

$\implies x=\pi-(\arctan 2+\arctan 3)$

Now, there is a formula: $\arctan a +\arctan b=\arctan(\frac{a+b}{1-ab})$ where $ab<1$.

Here $ab=2\times 3=6$ which is greater than $1$.

So how do i solve this equation to obtain the value of $x$?

MrAP
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    Why are you making it so complicated? You have 2 angles, just solve for the third. a + b + c = 180 – John A. Feb 08 '18 at 22:35

3 Answers3

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In a triangle $ABC$ we have $$\tan A+\tan B+\tan C=\tan A\tan B\tan C$$ Therefore $$2+3+\tan C=2\cdot3\cdot\tan C$$ So, $$\tan C=1$$ and $C=\pi/4$.

ajotatxe
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$\theta = \tan^{-1}(2), \beta = \tan^{-1}(3)\implies \tan(\theta) = 2, \tan(\beta) = 3\implies \tan(\beta+\theta)=\dfrac{2+3}{1-2\cdot 3}= -1\implies \beta+\theta= 3\pi/4\implies \gamma = \pi/4$

DeepSea
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Three angles of a triangle sum to 180 degrees

Consider this figure. (the grid is a square grid.)

enter image description here

Angles $A+B+C$ sum to $180.$

$A$ is an angle with measure $\arctan 3.$

$B$ has measure $\arctan 2$

What is the measure of angle $C$?

It is an isosceles right triangle.

Doug M
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