Triangles,Circles,andWaves(ohmy!

)
AnOverviewofTrigonometry
Copyright(c)1996byKennyFelder
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Thissheetismeantasaguidetohelpyoureviewtrigonometry.Iassumeyou'realreadyfamiliarwiththe
basicconcepts,andjustneedtohavethingscleareduporrefreshed;ifyou'veneverseentrigbefore,thissheet
willprobablyonlybehelpfulinconjunctionwithaclass.

TheBasicIdea
Startoutbyconsideringarighttriangle:thatis,atrianglewithone90oangle.Theanglethatwecareaboutis
oneoftheotherones,whichwe'lllabelwiththeGreekletter.(EveryonealwayslabelsangleswithGreek
letters.Why?OneloyalreadertellsmethisisdoneinhonorofPythagoras.)We'regoingtolookatthesides:
thebigone,oppositetherightangle,wecallthehypotenuse.Theothertwodon'thavespecialnames,butone
isadjacenttoandoneisopposite,sothosewilldo.Inthetrianglebelow,forinstance,thesideopposite
haslength2(inches,ormeters,orwhatever).Thesideadjacenttohaslength
therefore,musthavelength4bythePythagoreantheorem.

.Thehypotenuse,

Now,we'regoingtostartbydefiningthesineof(written"sin")asthelengthoftheoppositeside,divided
bythelengthofthehypotenuse;sowe'llsaythatsin30o=(2dividedby4)=1/2.Youmightwellaskwhywe
wouldgiveaspecialnametosuchathing.I'llbetalkingsoonabouthowitcanbepracticalanduseful,butthe
keypointtounderstandisthatthesineofdependsonlyon;itdoesnotdependonthespecifictriangle.If
youchangethesizeofthetriangleIdrewupthere,butleavetheanglesthesame,thelengthsofthesideswill
change,buttheratiosin=opp/hypwillremainthesame.Sosingivesusawayofrepresentingthefact
thatalltrianglesthathavethesameangles,willhavethesamesideratios.
Lookatthedrawingsbelowandseeifyoucanconvinceyourselfthatsinisthesamefordifferenttriangles
withthesame.

BeforeIworkanexampleinwhichthesineprovesuseful,letmementiontheothertwoimportanttrig
functions.Thecosineof(write"cos")istheadjacentsidedividedbythehypotenuse,andthetangent
("tan")istheoppositesideovertheadjacent.Youcanmemorizethesebyrememberingtheindiansounding
wordSOHCAHTOA:itdoesn'tactuallymeananything,except"Sine=Opp/Hyp,Cosine=Adj/Hyp,

Tangent=Opp/Adj,"butitisahardwordtoforgetifyousayitoutloudafewtimes.(Note:Acoupleof
readershavepointedoutalternativemnemonics:"OhHeck,AnotherHourOfAlgebra"or"OscarHadA
HeapOfApples."Thesearedifferenttricksformemorizingthesamething:OppositeoverHypotenuse,
AdjacentoverHypotenuse,andOppositeoverAdjacent,forsin,cos,andtan,respectively).
Testyourself:lookingatthetrianglesdrawnabove,whatarethecosineandtangentof30o?Checkyour
answersonacalculator(butmakesureitisin"degree"mode,insteadof"radian"mode,oritwon'twork).
Knowingthemeaningsofthesine,cosine,andtangent,youcanworkmostelementarytrigproblemsifyou
haveacalculatoronhand.Forinstance,atypicalproblemmightbe:youwanttomeasuretheheightofa
lighthousewithoutclimbingit.So,youstandthirtyfeetawayfromthelighthouse,andyoumeasureanangle
ofelevationof60otothetop.Howtallisthelighthouse?
Tostartanysuchproblem,drawapicture.Makesureyoulabelalltherelevantanglesandsides.

Now,lookatwhichsidesareimportant.Inthiscase,thesideyouknowisadjacenttotheknown60oangle;
andthesideyouwanttoknowisoppositetheangle.Thistellsyouwhichtrigfunctionyouwant:thetangent,
sinceitrelatestheoppositeandadjacentsidesandignoresthehypotenuse.Fromhereon,it'seasy.Usea
calculatorortrigtabletotellyouthattan60o=1.73.Thenwritetan=opp/adjandyoucanwritethe
equation1.73=ht/30'.Solving,ht=51.9ft.Withoutleavingtheground,youhavemeasuredtheheightofa
lighthouseveryexactly:simplybyknowingthattheratiotan=opp/adjisthesameforagigantic
lighthousepersoncementtriangleasforthelittlecomputerdrawntriangleonthepagehere!Ifyou
understandwhatwe'vedonesofar,you'vegotthebasics;fromhereonin,it'sjustrefinements.

TrigIdentities
Somethingmostcoursesspendalotoftimeonarethesocalled"trigidentities":thatis,formulasthatrelate
thevarioustrigfunctionstoeachother.Forinstance,lookingatthedefinitionssin=opp/hyp,and
cos=adj/hyp,whatistheratiosin/cos?Alittlealgebrawillshowyouthatthisratioequalsopp/adj,
whichisjustwe'vealreadydefinedastan!(Makesureyoucheckthealgebrahereyourself;don'ttakemy
wordforit.)Sowehaveatrigidentity:tan=sin/cos.Whatmakesthisatrigidentityisthatitholdsfor
anyangle;youmightwanttocheckthisforyourselfonacalculatorforafewdifferentangles.
Theotheralwaysusefultrigidentityisthatifyoutakesinandsquareit;andthenyoutakecosandsquare
it;andyouaddthesetwothings;youalwaysgetone.Youmightthinkthiswouldbewrittenlikethis:
(sin)2+(cos)2=1

Butinfact,itisgenerallywrittenlikethisinstead:
sin2+cos2=1
Sosin2isjustthewaythatpeopletendtowrite"sin,squared,"forsomereason.
Anyway,Iwouldencourageyoutocheckthisoneoutonacalculatortoo.Pickanumberlike37,andtypethe
followingintoyourcalculator.
(sin(37))2+(cos(37))2
andseeifyoualwaysget1.Then,forrealfun,figureoutwhythisparticularrelationshipistrueforanyangle;
thisisprettyeasy,usingthedefinitionofthesinandcos,andthepythagoreantheorem.(Iknow,Iknow,you
don'tlikedoingproofs;buttrythisoneanyway,honest.)
Thereareamillionothertrigidentities,whichenableyoutorewritesin(2)orwhatever;onthewhole,you
memorizetheseforthetestandthenforgetallaboutthem.Lordknows,that'swhatIdo.

TheUnitCircle
Thetrianglepictureoftrigisveryuseful,butoncewehaveit,wecandiscussthetrigonometricfunctionsina
numberofotherusefulways.Thetwomostpopulararetheunitcircle,andthesineandcosinegraphs.Each
picturecanbeusedtotellyoudifferentthingsaboutthetrigonometricfunctions,butit'simportantto
rememberthatallthreepicturesaredescribingthesamesine,cosine,andtangent.Sotostartwith,let'slookat
theunitcircle.

Thisdrawingshowstheunitcircle;thatis,acirclearoundtheorigin,withradiusone.Italsoshowsaline
goingfromtheorigin,tosomepointonthecircle.Theanglefromthisline,tothexaxis,islabeled.And
thereisapoint,wherethelinecrossesthecircle,whichIhavelabeled(x,y).
I'vealsodrawnoneotherline,whichgoesfrom(x,y)straightdowntothexaxis.Idrewthisverticalline
becauseitgavemealittletriangle.Now,basedonourearliertriangledefinitions,whatiscos?Well,cos
istheadjacentsideoverthehypotenuse,solookatthetriangleinthedrawing.Theadjacentsideisthex
coordinateofourpoint(x,y),whichisjustx.Thehypotenuseistheradiusofthecircle,whichisone.Sothe
cosineisx/1,orx.Youcanjustaseasilyprovetoyourselfthatsinisy.So,usingthetriangledefinitionswe
discussedearlier,wehavecometothecircledefinitionofthetrigfunctions:

Drawalinefromtheorigin,atanangle,andlookatthepointwherethatlineintersectstheunitcircle.cos
isthexcoordinateofthatpoint,andsinistheycoordinate.
Thisisanewdefinitionofourtrigfunctions;youcandoeverythingbasedonthiscircledefinitioninsteadof
thetriangledefinition,ifyouwantto.Butitshouldbeclearfromtheabovediscussionthattheyarereallythe
samething.
Whatmaynotbecleariswhyyouwouldwanttohavetwodifferentwaysofdefiningthesamething,evenif
theydowindupbeingthesame!Thetriangleswerefine,whydoweneedcircles?Ithinkthebiggestreasonis
thatinourearlierdefinition,wasoneangleofarighttriangle,andsuchanglesarealwaysbiggerthan0,
andsmallerthan90o.Butonthecircle,canbeanything:itcanbemuchbiggerthan90o,oritcanevenbe
negative!
Forinstance,what'ssin180o?Well,ifyoulookatthe180oangleonthecircle,itintersectsatthepoint(1,0).
Socos180o=1andsin180o=0.
Whenyougetusedtothis,itcanbeagreattimesaverandboostyourintuitivefeelforthetrigfunctions
enormously.Asasmalltestforyourself,whatarethesineandcosineof90o?(Checkyouranswersona
calculator!)Withalittlepracticeyoucandothisoneandafewothereasyanglesinyourhead,justby
picturingtheunitcircle.
Asanotherexampleoftheusefulnessoftheunitcircle,considerthesineandcosineof().Well,ontheunit
circlebelowI'vedrawninanangleanditsopposite().Youcanseethatthexcoordinates(thecosines)
arethesameandtheycoordinates(thesines)areopposite,sowegetthetrigidentities:
cos()=cosandsin()=sin.

Again,youmightwanttochecktheseidentitiesyourselfusingacalculatorandafewsimpleangles.For
instance,findthesineandcosineof10o,thenof10o.Arethetwocosinesthesame?Arethetwosines
opposite?
Onemoreexampleoftheusefulnessoftheunitcircle:textbooksoftengiveyouanangle,andaskyouifthe
sineandcosinearenegativeorpositive.Theyencourageyoutomemorizerulesaboutwhatisnegativeand
positiveindifferentquadrants,butthereisreallynoneedtomemorizeanything:youjustneedtopicturethe
unitcircle.Forinstance,supposetheangleis110o.Well,youcanseeontheunitcirclethatthisputsusinthe
upperlefthandquadrant;soxisnegativeandyispositive;socos110oisnegative,andsin110oispositive.
Youcan'tfigureouttheexactvalueswithoutcheckingyourcalculator;butifyourcalculatorgivesyoua
negativesine,youcanbetyoupunchedsomethinginwrong!

Also,rememberthattan=sin/cos.Sotan110owillalsobenegative,sinceapositivenumberdividedby
anegativenumberwillalwaysgiveyouanegative.
Aswithmostthingsontheunitcircle,thiswholetrainofthoughttakesmoretimetowriteoutthanittakesto
actuallydoit.Takealittletimetoworkwiththeunitcircle,untilyoucanpictureitinyourhead,anditwill
beaverygreathelptoyourunderstandingofthetrigfunctions.

GraphingtheSineandCosine
Beforeyoucanfullyunderstandthebehaviorofanysortoffunction,youhavetographit.Inthecaseofthe
trigfunctions,thegraphisprettyeasytodrawifyoulookattheunitcircleforawhile.Thestrategyissimple:
startoutat=0o,andfollowtheunitcirclearound,watchingwhattheycoordinatedoes(forthesine,thatis;
watchthexcoordinateforthecosine).I'mabouttodothesine:followme,aroundtheunitcircle,thentryto
dothecosineforyourself.

Sin0oiszero,asyouhopefullyfiguredoutforyourselfbylookingattheunitcirclelastpage.Sin90ois1.In
between,asmovesfromzerotoninety,theycoordinateontheunitcircleisconstantlyincreasing.Sothe
graphstartsoutlike:

Continuingtofollowtheunitcirclearound,asincreasesto180otheycoordinatedropstozero:we'renowat
thepoint(1,0)ontheunitcircle.Askeepsgoingfromthere,theycoordinatedoesn'tturnaroundandgo
backuptoone;itkeepsgoingdown,reaching1whengetsto270o.Thentheycoordinateturnsaround,and
reacheszeroagainwhenis360o;wearenow,ofcourse,atexactlythesameplaceontheunitcirclethatwe
wereatwhenwas0o.Sothefullsinegraphlookslike:

Youcankeepongoingfromtherearoundtheunitcircle,retracingthepatharoundandaround;sothegraph
repeatsitselfindefinitely.

Ifyoufollowedmecarefullyaroundtheunitcircle,allofthatshouldhavemadesense.Ifyou'relikemost
people,youkindoffuzzedouthalfway;sodoyourselfafavor,anddothecosinegraphforyourself.Startat
0o,wherethexcoordinateis1,andwalkyourselfallthewayaroundtheunitcircle,followingwhatthex
coordinatedoesfrom0to90o,thento180o,thento270o,andfinallybackaroundto360o,whichisthesame
placeonthecircleaszero.Seewhatthegraphlookslikeforonefullcycle,andconvinceyourselfthatitwill
nowrepeatitselfindefinitely.
Whenwewentfromthetriangletothecircle,Isaidthattherewerecertainthingsthatwouldbeeasierto
understandwiththisnewrepresentation.Similarly,thegraphgivesuswaysofunderstandingsomeaspectsof
thetrigfunctionsmoredirectlythaneitherthetriangleorthecircle.Forinstance,lookatyoursinandcos
graphssidebyside.Notethattheylookexactlythesame,exceptthattheyareoffsetby90o.Thisgivesusyet
anothertrigidentity:sin=cos(90o).Onceagain,youdon'thavetomemorizethisidentity:youcaneasily
recreateit,justbyknowingwhatthegraphlookslike.

We'reDone!
Whatwe'vejustcoveredisthethreebasicwaysoflookingattrigonometry:withtriangles,circles,andthe
graph.IfI'vebeensuccessful,younowhaveafeelingthat...

Thetrianglerepresentationoftrigmakessense.Thatis,itmakessensetodefinethesethingscalled
sine,cosine,andtangent,becausenomatterwhattriangleyoudrawwitha37oangle,thesineof37
willalwaysbethesame.
Thecirclerepresentationoftrigmakessense.Thatis,youcanseethatitreallyisanotherwayof
representingtheexactsamefunctionsthatwediscussedonthetriangle;and,youcanseethatthere
arecertainkindsofthingsthatareeasiertounderstandonthecirclethanonthetriangle.
Thesineandcosinegraphsmakesense.Thatis,youcanseethattheseareyetanotherwayof
representingtheexactsamefunctionsthatwediscussedonthetriangleandthecircle;andonce
again,youcanseethattherearecertainkindsofthingsthatareeasiesttounderstandonthegraph.

Thenextstepistostartworkingproblems.Someofthemwillrequireusingtrigidentitiesthatyoujusthave
tolookup,andthat'sfine.Butthebasicideasshouldallmakesense.

ABitMoreBackgroundAddedBySuggestion
MikeHouskywaskindenoughtowritetomeandsuggesttheadditionofsomebackgroundmaterial.Thefirst
paragraphIquoteverbatimfromhim,sinceitisaverycoolbitoftriviathatIdidnotknow,andIdon'thave
anythingusefultoaddtoit.
"Onethingthatmighthelptheopeningisadiscussionoftheword'trigonometry'.'Trigon'comesfromGreek
rootsmeaning'threesides'andisanothernameforatriangle.'Metry'isasuffixmeaning'measurement'and
thefulltermroughlytranslatesto'trianglemeasurement'.Thiscouldaddsomemotivationorperhapsjust
someaddedcolortothediscussionofthetriangleapproach."
Inaddition,Mikegoesontosuggestthat"Inthediscussionoftheunitcircleapproach(myfavorite,bythe
way),somementionofradiansseemsappropriate."Ithinkthisisagreatidea,sohereIgo!Asyou
presumablyknow,anglesareusuallymeasuredbyasystemwherearightangleis90o;soastraightlineis
180oandthefullcircleis360o.AsfarasIknow,thisiscompletelyarbitrary;thereisnogoodreasontocalla
rightangle"90"ofanything.
Radiansprovideaunitofmeasurementthatisnotcompletelyarbitrary.Whenyoumeasureinradians,afull
circleis2,soarightangleis/2.Now,thismayseemlikeabigstepinthewrongdirection,butconsider
this:thecircumferenceofacircleis2timestheradius.Aha!
(Yeah,what'syourpoint?)
Thepointis,onourunitcircle,considersomeangle.

Inthedrawing,Ihavelabeledanangle,andalsothearclalongthecirclefrom0to.Ithinkyou'llagree
thatifgetsbigger,lalsogetsbigger.Ifis0,lis0.Whatmaynotbequitesoobvious,butIhopeitmakes
sense,isthattheyareperfectlyproportional:ifdoubles,ldoubles.Ifwemeasureinradians,thenthe
constantofproportionalityis1:inotherwords,theanglemeasurement(inradians)isthearclength.Because
ifwegoaroundthewholecircle,theybothgoto2.
Soradiansarejustanotherwayofmeasuringangles,justlikedegreesare.Butwithradians,yougettheadded
bonusthattheangleisthearclengthor,whenitisn'taunitcircle,thearclengthdividedbytheradiusofthe
circle.Prettycool,huh?

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