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Sine, Cosine and Tangent: Right Triangle

This document defines and provides examples of the sine, cosine, and tangent functions in trigonometry. It introduces right triangles and defines the opposite, adjacent, and hypotenuse sides. It then explains that sine is calculated as the opposite side over the hypotenuse, cosine as the adjacent side over the hypotenuse, and tangent as the opposite side over the adjacent side. Two example triangles at 30 and 45 degrees are provided to demonstrate calculating the sine, cosine, and tangent values. An acronym, "sohcahtoa", is also introduced to help remember which side to divide by which for each trigonometric function.

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298 views

Sine, Cosine and Tangent: Right Triangle

This document defines and provides examples of the sine, cosine, and tangent functions in trigonometry. It introduces right triangles and defines the opposite, adjacent, and hypotenuse sides. It then explains that sine is calculated as the opposite side over the hypotenuse, cosine as the adjacent side over the hypotenuse, and tangent as the opposite side over the adjacent side. Two example triangles at 30 and 45 degrees are provided to demonstrate calculating the sine, cosine, and tangent values. An acronym, "sohcahtoa", is also introduced to help remember which side to divide by which for each trigonometric function.

Uploaded by

منصور سامه
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Sine, Cosine and Tangent

Three Functions, but same idea.

Right Triangle
Sine, Cosine and Tangent are all based on a Right-Angled Triangle

Before getting stuck into the functions, it helps to give a name to each side of a right triangle:

 "Opposite" is opposite to the angle θ


 "Adjacent" is adjacent (next to) to the angle θ
 "Hypotenuse" is the long one

Adjacent is always next to the


angle

And Opposite is opposite the


angle

Sine, Cosine and Tangent


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

They are often shortened to sin, cos and tan.

To calculate them:

Divide the length of one side by another side


... but you must know which sides!
For a triangle with an angle θ, the functions are calculated this way:

Sine Function: sin(θ) = Opposite / Hypotenuse


Cosine Function: cos(θ) = Adjacent / Hypotenuse
Tangent Function: tan(θ) = Opposite / Adjacent

Example: What is the sine of 35°?

Using this triangle (lengths are only to one


decimal place):

sin(35°) = Opposite / Hypotenuse = 2.8/4.9 =


0.57...

Good calculators have sin, cos and tan on them, to make it easy for
you. Just put in the angle and press the button.

But you still need to remember what they mean!


"Why didn't sin and tan

go to the party?"
"... just cos!"

Examples
Example 1: what are the sine, cosine and tangent of 30° ?

The classic 30° triangle has a hypotenuse of length 2, an opposite side of length 1 and an
adjacent side of √(3):
Now we know the lengths, we can calculate the functions:

Sine sin(30°) = 1 / 2 = 0.5


Cosine cos(30°) = 1.732 / 2 = 0.866
Tangent tan(30°) = 1 / 1.732 = 0.577

(get your calculator out and check them!)

Example 2: what are the sine, cosine and tangent of 45° ?

The classic 45° triangle has two sides of 1 and a hypotenuse of √(2):

Sine sin(45°) = 1 / 1.414 = 0.707


Cosine cos(45°) = 1 / 1.414 = 0.707
Tangent tan(45°) = 1 / 1 = 1

Sohcahtoa
Sohca...what? Just an easy way to remember which side to divide by which! Like this:

Soh... Sine = Opposite / Hypotenuse


...cah... Cosine = Adjacent / Hypotenuse
...toa Tangent = Opposite / Adjacent

You can read more about sohcahtoa ...

... but please remember "sohcahtoa" - it could help in an exam !


 

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