how do you find the length of a side of a triangle if two sides are given?

Question

it isnt a right triangle.

Answer 1

Triangles have three sides and three angles. You need THREE of these six parameters in order to get the other three. So, to answer your question, you can't - not without another side or at least one angle.

Now, if you had that third piece of information:

The law of cosines is

c² = a² + b² + 2ab cos ( angle between them )

The law of sines is

A / sin a = B / sin b = C / sin c = 2R where

a is the angle opposite side A, et cetera, and

R = a b c / ( 2 sqrt ( ( s ) ( s - a ) ( s - b ) ( s - c ) ) )

were

s = ( a + b + c ) / 2

Answer 2

You can't, without the angle between the two sides. To exactly define a triangle, you must know Side-Angle-Side, or Side-Side-Side (the exact length of all three sides).

Answer 3

You also need the angle between the two sides.

Answer 4

a squared+bsquared=csquared

use a and b as the two givens, and then just find the other side.