TRIGONOMETRY

Areas of focus:

1. Degrees versus radians

2. Trigonometric functions
3. Trigonometric relations between complementary angles
4. Pythagorean Theorem
5. The fundamental relation between sine and cosine
6. The unit circle and visualizing the trigonometric functions
7. Inverse of trigonometric functions
8. Law of sines
9. Law of cosines
10. Values of trigonometric at specific angles
11. Trigonometric identities
12. Curves of sine, cosine, and tangent
13. Approximation for small angles: sine, cosine, and tangent

Degrees Versus Radians:

One revolution is 360o, and is also 2 radians. Thus, due to linear proportionality of the
two scales, the conversion from x degrees to y radians is:

One radian is equal to 3.14159..., and is normally approximated by 3.14. The following
table gives equivalent angles in degrees, radians, and revolutions.

Degrees Radians Revolutions

 0o 0 0

30o

45o

60o

90o

180o

270o

360o 1

Trigonometric Functions:

The trigonometric functions are named sine, cosine, tangent, cotangent, secant, and
cosecant. A trigonometric function has one argument that is an angle and will be denoted
" ". In writing the trigonometric functions one uses the abbreviated forms: ,
, , , , and , respectively. Also, sometimes these are
written as , , , , , and , respectively.

The value of each trigonometric function for an acute angle (<90o) can be directly related
to the sides of a right triangle. Consider the angle in the following figure. The values of
the trigonometric functions for this angle are given as:
 Note: the exponents of trigonometric functions follow a special rule. If the
exponent "n" is positive, then one writes in place of .
For example,

The same rule does not apply to negative exponents since the exponent "-
1" is reserved for the inverse trigonometric function.

Functions of Complementary Angles:

In this figure, and are complementary angles, meaning . Examination of

the basic relation between the trigonometric functions and the sides of the triangle reveal
the following relations between the complementary angles and .
Since , we can also write:

Pythagorean Theorem:

The Pythagorean theorem states that for a right triangle, as shown, there exists a relation
between the length of the sides given be

a2 + b2 = c2

There are also Pythagorean triples for (a,b,c), such as (3,4,5), (5,12,13) and (7,24,25)
sided triangles, and all constant multiples of these triplets (e.g., (6,8,10)).

Fundamental Relations Among Trigonometric Functions:

From the Pythagorean Theorem of plane geometry we know that x2 + y2 = r2. This can be
used to derive a basic relation between the sine and cosine functions.
TRIGONOMETRY FOR STATICS
 PART 2:

The Unit Circle and Visualizing Trigonometric Functions:

The fundamental relation suggests that the sine and cosine can be
visualized by using a circle of unit radius. To do this, draw a circle of unit radius, as
shown in the figure. Next draw a radial line from the center of the circle to the its arc and
making a counter clockwise angle with the horizontal axis as shown in the figure. The
projection of this line onto the horizontal axis is , the projection of this line onto
the vertical axis is , and if the radial line is extended to intersect the vertical line
AB one can get as shown in the figure.

From the unit circle one immediately discovers that the sine and cosine functions can
have values from -1 to 1, and that the tangent can have any value form to .

One denotes the quadrants of the unit circle as shown in the figure. It can be seen that the
sine has positive value in the first and second quadrants, and negative value in the third
and fourth quadrants. The cosine has positive value in the first and fourth quadrant and
negative value in the second and third quadrants. The tangent has positive value in the
first and third quadrants and negative value in the second and fourth quadrants.

The unit circle can also help one memorize the values of the trigonometric functions. For
example, at

At
At

At

Inverse of Trigonometric Functions:

The inverse trigonometric functions are: arcsine, arccosine, and arctangent. For a
specific value z, these are written as: , , . For example, the
function provides the angles that has . In a similar manner,
 and , respectively, provide the angles for which and
.

For example, means the angle for which the sine has a value of 0.5.
Thus, one solution is . Likewise, has a solution .

The inverse trigonometric functions are also written as sin-1, cos-1, and tan-1. For example,
is the same as . This contradicts the convention established for
positive exponents. Therefore, even though

The inverse trigonometric functions are multi valued. For example, the angles
all satisfy the relation and are, therefore,
the solutions to . This can clearly be seen on the unit circle since the
projection of radial lines at 30o and 150o onto the vertical axis are the same.
On the unit circle the addition of 360o to any angle results in a new radial line that falls on
top of the original radial line. Therefore, the value of any trigonometric functions at an
angle is the same as its value at . This is also true for the addition of any
integer multiple of 360o so that, for example, for any integer n.

Law of Sines:

The law of sines states that

This can be shown by considering the triangles AXB and CXB in the following figure.

We have and , hence or .

In a similar manner one can show that .

Law of Cosines:

The law of cosines states that

This can be shown by considering the triangle BXC that gives:

a2 = p2 + (CX )2 = p2 + (b - AX)2

or a2 = p2 + b2 + (AX)2 - 2b(AX) (1)

Considering the triangle AXB one gets:

p2 + (AX)2 = c2 and

Substituting these into (1) one obtains:

The other relations are obtained in a similar manner.

TRIGONOMETRY FOR STATICS

PART 3:

Values of Trigonometric Functions at Specific Angles:

For 0o and 90o: These functions are limiting values that can be observed from the
drawing. As side y approaches 0 (zero), the x approaches r.

For 30o and 60o:

For 45o:
Trigonometric Identities:

Basic identities:

Half-angles:
Identities in terms of tan (/2):

where

Curves of Sine, Cosine, and Tangent:

Sine function:

The sine function is an odd function since

Cosine function:
The cosine function is an even function since

Tangent function:

The tangent function is an odd function

since

Note that

as

Approximation of Trigonometric Functions at Small Angles:

As a close approximation, when an angle (expressed in radians) is very small, we may

use the following approximations

 replace with
 replace with
 replace with unity (i.e., )