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Sine, Cosine and Tangent

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Trigonometric Identities
You might like to read about Trigonometry first!

Right Triangle
 The Trigonometric Identities are equations that are true for Right Angled
Triangles . (If it is not a Right Angled Triangle go to the Triangle
Identities page.)

Each side of a right triangle has a name:

Adjacent is always next to the angle

And Opposite is opposite the angle

We are soon going to be playing with all sorts of functions, but remember it all
comes back to that simple triangle with:

 Angle θ
 Hypotenuse
 Adjacent
 Opposite

Sine, Cosine and Tangent

The three main functions in trigonometry are Sine, Cosine and Tangent .

They are just the length of one side divided by another

For a right triangle with an angle θ :

Sine Function: sin(θ) = Opposite / Hypotenuse

Cosine Function: cos(θ) = Adjacent / Hypotenuse
Tangent Function: tan(θ) = Opposite / Adjacent
 For a given angle θ each ratio stays the same
no matter how big or small the triangle is

When we divide Sine by Cosine we get:

sin(θ)cos(θ) = Opposite/HypotenuseAdjacent/Hypotenuse = OppositeAdja

cent = tan(θ)

So we can say:

tan(θ) = sin(θ)cos(θ)
That is our first Trigonometric Identity.

Cosecant, Secant and Cotangent

We can also divide "the other way around" (such
as Adjacent/Opposite instead of Opposite/Adjacent):

Cosecant Function: csc(θ) = Hypotenuse / Opposite

Secant Function: sec(θ) = Hypotenuse / Adjacent
Cotangent Function: cot(θ) = Adjacent / Opposite

Example: when Opposite = 2 and Hypotenuse = 4 then

sin(θ) = 2/4, and csc(θ) = 4/2

Because of all that we can say:

sin(θ) = 1/csc(θ)

cos(θ) = 1/sec(θ)
 tan(θ) = 1/cot(θ)
And the other way around:

csc(θ) = 1/sin(θ)

sec(θ) = 1/cos(θ)

cot(θ) = 1/tan(θ)
And we also have:

cot(θ) = cos(θ)/sin(θ)

Pythagoras Theorem
For the next trigonometric identities we start with Pythagoras' Theorem :

The Pythagorean Theorem says that, in a right triangle, the square of a plus the square of
b is equal to the square of c:

a2 + b 2 = c2

Dividing through by c2 gives

a2c2 + b2c2 = c2c2

This can be simplified to:

(ac)2 + (bc)2 = 1
Now, a/c is Opposite / Hypotenuse, which is sin(θ)

And b/c is Adjacent / Hypotenuse, which is cos(θ)

So (a/c)2 + (b/c)2 = 1 can also be written:

sin2 θ + cos2 θ = 1
Note:
 sin2 θ means to find the sine of θ, then square the result, and
 sin θ2 means to square θ, then do the sine function

Example: 32°

Using 4 decimal places only:

 sin(32°) = 0.5299...
 cos(32°) = 0.8480...

Now let's calculate sin2 θ + cos2 θ:

0.52992 + 0.84802
= 0.2808... + 0.7191...
= 0.9999...

We get very close to 1 using only 4 decimal places. Try it on your calculator,
you might get better results!

Related identities include:

sin2 θ = 1 − cos2 θ
cos2 θ = 1 − sin2 θ
tan2 θ + 1 = sec2 θ
tan2 θ = sec2 θ − 1
cot2 θ + 1 = csc2 θ
cot2 θ = csc2 θ − 1

How Do You Remember

Them?
The identities mentioned so far can be remembered
using one clever diagram called the Magic Hexagon :
But Wait ... There is More!
There are many more identities ... here are some of the more useful ones:

Opposite Angle Identities

sin(−θ) = −sin(θ)

cos(−θ) = cos(θ)

tan(−θ) = −tan(θ)

Double Angle Identities

Half Angle Identities

Note that "±" means it may be either one, depending on the value of θ/2
Angle Sum and Difference Identities

Note that means you can use plus or minus, and the means to use the
opposite sign.

Triangle Identities
There are also Triangle Identities which apply to all triangles (not just Right
Angled Triangles)

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Q

uestion 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10
Sine, Cosine and TangentUnit Circle
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