Sine, Cosine and Tangent in Four Quadrants

Sine, Cosine and Tangent

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

They are easy to calculate:

Divide the length of one side of a
right angled triangle by another side

... but we must know which sides!

For an angle , the functions are calculated this way:
Sine Function:
Cosine Function:
Tangent Function:

sin() = Opposite / Hypotenuse

cos() = Adjacent / Hypotenuse
tan() = 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...

Cartesian Coordinates
Using Cartesian Coordinates we mark a point on a graph by how far along and how far
up it is:

The point (12,5) is 12 units along, and 5 units up.

Four Quadrants
When we include negative values, the x and y axes divide the space up into 4 pieces:
Quadrants I, II, III and IV
(They are numbered in a counter-clockwise direction)

In Quadrant I both x and y are positive,

in Quadrant II x is negative (y is still positive),

in Quadrant III both x and y are negative, and

in Quadrant IV x is positive again, and y is negative.

Like this:

Quadrant
I
II
III
IV

X
Y
Example
(horizontal) (vertical)
Positive
Negative
Negative
Positive

Positive
Positive
Negative
Negative

(3,2)
(2,1)

Example: The point "C" (2,1) is 2 units along in the negative direction, and 1 unit down
(i.e. negative direction).
Both x and y are negative, so that point is in "Quadrant III"

Sine, Cosine and Tangent in the Four Quadrants

Now let us look at what happens when we place a 30 triangle in each of the 4 Quadrants.
In Quadrant I everything is normal, and Sine, Cosine and Tangent are all positive:

Example: The sine, cosine and tangent of 30

Sine

sin(30) = 1 / 2 = 0.5

Cosine cos(30) = 1.732 / 2 = 0.866

Tangent tan(30) = 1 / 1.732 = 0.577

But in Quadrant II, the x direction is negative, and both cosine and tangent become
negative:

Example: The sine, cosine and tangent of 150

Sine

sin(150) = 1 / 2 = 0.5

Cosine cos(150) = 1.732 / 2 = 0.866

Tangent tan(150) = 1 / 1.732 = 0.577

In Quadrant III, sine and cosine are negative:

Example: The sine, cosine and tangent of 210

Sine

sin(210) = 1 / 2 = 0.5

Cosine cos(210) = 1.732 / 2 = 0.866

Tangent tan(210) = 1 / 1.732 = 0.577
Note: Tangent is positive because dividing a negative by a negative gives a positive.
In Quadrant IV, sine and tangent are negative:

Example: The sine, cosine and tangent of 330

Sine

sin(330) = 1 / 2 = 0.5

Cosine

cos(330) = 1.732 / 2 = 0.866

Tangent tan(330) = 1 / 1.732 = 0.577

There is a pattern! Look at when Sine Cosine and Tangent are positive ...

All three of them are positive in Quadrant I

Sine only is positive in Quadrant II

Tangent only is positive in Quadrant III

Cosine only is positive in Quadrant IV

This can be shown even easier by:

Some people like to remember the four letters ASTC by one

of these:

All Students Take Chemistry

All Students Take Calculus

Add Sugar To Coffee

You can remember one of these, or maybe you could make

up
your own. Or just remember ASTC.

This graph shows "ASTC"

also.

Two Values
Have a look at this graph of the Sine Function::

There are two angles (within the first 360) that have the same value!
And this is also true for Cosine and Tangent.
The trouble is: Your calculator will only give you one of those values ...
... but you can use these rules to find the other value:
First value Second value
Sine

180
Cosine

360
Tangent

180
And if any angle is less than 0, then add 360.
We can now solve equations for angles between 0 and 360 (using Inverse Sine Cosine
and Tangent)

Example: Solve sin = 0.5

We get the first solution from the calculator = sin-1(0.5) = 30 (it is in Quadrant I)
The other solution is 180 30 = 150 (Quadrant II)

Example: Solve tan = 1.3

We get the first solution from the calculator = tan-1(1.3) = 52.4
This is less than 0, so we add 360: 52.4 + 360 = 307.6 (Quadrant IV)
The other solution is 307.6 180 = 127.6 (Quadrant II)

Example: Solve cos = 0.85

We get the first solution from the calculator = cos-1(0.85) = 148.2 (Quadrant II)
The other solution is 360 148.2 = 211.8 (Quadrant III)