Le 2010-03-16 08:15, Vincent Le Chevalier a écrit :
> gharryh wrote:
>> From a triangle from whom i know the length of both legs (A and B) i
>> want to
>> calculate the longest leg (C).
>> As i remember from school its C*C=A*A+B*B where A=62.5 and B=17.
>> Translated into PovRay its C=sqrt(pow(A,2)+pow(B,2)) but the result is
>> much
>> smaller. The correct result for C should be +/-32.596
>
> I don't know where you get your C=32.596 from but this is impossible, in
> this case A would be bigger than B+C, which means that no triangle will
> have sides of these lengths, no matter what the angles are...
>

It can be possible, but definetly not in plane geometry.
If you trace your triangle on a curved surface, and the triangle is 
large relative to the curvature of said surface, the sum of the angles 
can get larger than 360 degrees, close to 539.999 degrees can become 
possible, and the relative length of the sides amount to any relations.
Trace a very large triangle around the Earth, 2 sumits on the equator 
and the third one 1mm away from it, located at longitudes 0, 120 and 
-120, and mesure the angles on the ground.


Alain

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