Section 1.

3: Trigonometric Functions: Right Triangle Ratios

Below, we have a right triangle.

For any right triangle, there are six possible ratios of the length of the sides
that can be found for each acute angle
. They are as follows:

Each of these ratios are equal to a particular trigonometric function.

 
Heads up: How could we reduce ? What about ?
 

Example 1: Finding Trigonometric Function Values of a General Angle
in

a Right Triangle

Compute the six trigonometric functions: 

, 
, 

, 
, 
, and

for the following triangle:
Example 2 : Finding Trigonometric Function Values of a General Angle
in
a Right Triangle

For the given right triangle, calculate 
, 

, and 
.

Cofunctions

Consider the following friendly right triangle.

What is:


 =

 =

Cofunctions are based on the relationship of complimentary angles.

This means that 

 =

 =


 =

Note that in each of the above cofunctions listed, each trigonometric

function of an angle is equal to the cofunction of the compliment of the
angle.
 Cofunction Identities:



= cos 90 
 
= sin 90 




= cot 90 
 
= tan 90 



= csc 90 
 
= sec 90 


Example 3: Write each function or function value in terms of its cofunction.

a. 
30 b. 
# c. csc 40

Section 1.4: Evaluating Trig Functions Exactly for Special Angle Measures:
30, 45, and 60

Remember our favorite triangles:

We will use to above triangles to evaluate some trig functions.

Example 1: Evaluate the six trionometric functions for an angle that

measures 30.

Example 2: Evaluate the six trig functions for an angle that measures 45.
Trigonometric Function Values for Special Angles 30, 45, and 60










30

45

60
Using Calculators to Evaluate (Approx.) Trig Function Values

Not every angle will be as friendly as 30, 45, and 60. Lets practice
evaluating the following trig functions:

Example 3: Use a calculator to find the values of

a. 
75 b. tan67 c. 52 d. 30

Representing Partial Degrees: DD or DMS

While 1 may seem like a very small angle and pretty precise, sometimes
thats not enough. This is where the formats degrees-minutes-seconds
(DMS) and decimal degrees (DD) comes in.

The degrees-minutes-seconds way of representing part of a degree

- Breaks down each degree into 60 minutes

- Then each minute can be divided into 60 seconds.

Therefore, each minute (1) would be _____ of a degree and

each second (1) would be _____ of a minute and _____ of a

degree.

Example 4: Adding Degrees in DMS form

Add 352142 and 7530.

The decimal degrees way of representing part of a degree is pretty much
just what it sounds like, degrees rounded to a particular decimal place. For
example, 33.4 and 57.4321 are both angle measures written in the
decimal degree format.

Example 6: Converting from DMS to DD

Convert 173922 to decimal degrees. Round to the nearest thousandth.