The word ”trigonometry” appears for the first time in the book Trigonometria:

sive de solutione triangulorum tractatus brevis et perspicuus published by B.

Pitiscus (1561-1613) in 1595 and means ”the study of trigons” in Latin (trigon

being the word used for triangle) with a first appearance in English in the 1614

translation of the book of Pitiscus by Ra. Handson [1, 3, 4]. But trigonometric

functions (a term that according to Ca jori was introduced in 1770 by Georg Si-

mon Kl¨ugel (1739-1812) while the term trigonometric equations can be found in

1855 as a chapter title of the book ”A treatise on plane and spherical trigonom-

etry” published by William Chauvenet) were in use well before: Hipparchus of

Rhodes (190-120 BC), also called Hipparchus of Bithynia, called the founder

of trigonometry, publishes a lost work on the chords of a circle in 12 books

(although this number is contested) in 140 BC [8] (the chord function Crd is

related to the sine by sin(a) = Crd(2a)/120), probably using Pythagora’s theo-

rem and the half-angle theorem. Despite the fact that Hipparchus was a major

mathematician and astronomer it remains only one known of it writings, the

Commentary on Aratus and Eudoxus, a minor work. One of the use of these

tables was to tell the time of day or period of the year according charts of the

angular measure between various stars compiled by astronomers.

Around AD 100 Menelaus (circa 70-130 AD) has published six lost book

of tables of chords. In the two first books of its 13-books Almagest Ptolemy

(85-125 AD) also gives a table of chords (note that Almagest is not the real

name of the work of Ptolemy: originally the Greek title was The Mathematical

Compilation that was soon replaced by the Greatest Compilation which was

translated in Arabic as Al-majisti from which Almagest is derived).

The first appearance of the sine of an angle appears in the work of the

Hindu Aryabhata the Elder (476-550), in about 500, that gives tables of half

chords (that are 120 times the sine) based on the Greek half-angle formula

and uses the word of jya to describe these quantities [5, 6, 9]. The same sort

of table was presented by Brahmagupta (in 628) and a detailed method for

constructing table of sine was presented by Bhaskara in 1150.

The Hindu word jya was phonetically reproduced by the Arabs as jiba, a

word that has initially no meaning. But jiba became jaib in later Arab writings,

a word that has the meaning of ”fold”. When Europeans translated the Arabic
mathematical works into Latin, they translated jaib into sinus meaning fold,

bay or inlet in Latin: especially Fibonnacci’s use of the term sinus rectus arcus

was one of the main step for the universal use of the word sinus. Note that the

first appearance of sinus is still a subject of controversy:

•according to Cajori (1906) sinus appears in the 1116 translation of the

astronomy of Al Battani (that formally introduces the cosine) by Plato

of Tivoli that was published in 1537

•Eves claimed that sinus appears in the translation of the Algebra (al-

jabr w’al-muqabala, the science of transposition and cancellation) of Al-

khowarizmi (circa 780-850), a mathematician, astronomer and geogra-

pher, by Cremona (1114-1187)

•Boyer claims that sinus appears in 1145 in the translation of the tables of

Al-khowarizmi provided in Sindhind zij by Robert of Chester (or Robert

from Ketton, ?) (his translation of the treatise on algebra starts with

Dixit Algorithmi: laudes deo rectori nostro atque defensori dicmus dignas,

”Algorithmi says: praise be to God, our Lord and Defender”, and this

was the first occurence of a sentence that will lead to the modern word

of algorithm). Robert of Chester was a translator that was hired by the

Castillian (Spanish) king Alphonso the 6th who captured Toledo from the

Arabs and found a large library with many Arab manuscripts, including

translations of Greek books unknown in the rest of Europe.

Georg Joachim von Lauchen Rheticus (1514-1574) published in 1542 some chap-

ters of Copernicus’s book giving all the trigonometry relevant to astronomy and

produced accurate tables of the 6 trigonometric functions that were published

after his death in Opus Palatinum de triangulis or Canon of the Doctrine of

Triangles (probably written in 1551 but published in 1596).

Johann M¨uller of K¨onigsberg also called Regiomontanus (1436-1476) writes

the book De triangulis omnimodis that includes accurate data on the sine and

its inverse that were done around 1464 but published only in 1533.

The word cosinus has a similar development: Vi`ete (1540-1603) uses the

term sinus residae while Edmund Gunter (1581-1626), a Rector and professor

of astronomy, suggested the word co-sinus in 1620.

2.2 The sine and cosine abbreviation

In 1624 Edmund Gunter uses the abbreviation sin in a drawing (but the term

was not used in the text) while it is claimed that it appears for the first time in

the book Cursus mathematicus of the French mathematician Pierre H´erigone

(1580-1643) published in 1634: this claim is controversial as many works relates

that none of the notation proposed by H´erigone was used afterwards except for

the 6one. Some other authors claimed that William Oughtred (1575-1660),

the English rector of Albury, uses also sin in its book Addition vnto the Vse of

the Instrvment called the Circles of Proportion published in 1632.

Other abbreviation were used: Si by Cavalieri (1598-1647), an Italian Je-

suit mathematician, Sby Oughtred (1574-1660), an English Episcopal minister

who became passionately interested in mathematics, in its book Trigonometrie

published in 1657. The term sin. (with a period) was proposed by Thomas

Fincke (1561-1656), a Danish professor in rethorics, medicine and mathematics,

in 1583 in his book Geometriae rotundi.

As for the cosine Cavalieri was using the notation Si.2, Oughtred using s

co arc or sco and Sir Jonas Moore (1627-1679) proposes Cos. in Mathematical

Compendium (1674). John Wallis (1616-1703) was using Swhile Samuel Jeake

(1623-1690) used cos. in Arithmetick published in 1696.

The earliest use of cos is attributed either to Euler in 1729 in Commentarii

Academiae Scient. Petropollitanae, ad annum 1729 or to William Oughtred

either in 1631 or 1657.

The modern presentation of trigonometry can be attributed to Euler (1707-

1783) who presented in Introductio in analysin infinitorum (1748) the sine and

cosine as functions rather than as chords.

2.3 Trigonometric substitution in sine and cosine

Ptolemy was aware of the formula

sin(x+y) = sin xcos y+ cos xsin y

and in 980 the Arab Abu’l-Wafa was using the formula

sin 2x= 2 sin xcos x

in its book Kitab al-Khamil. This substitution was essential to calculate the

tables that were used for astronomy and engineering.

Now consider the substitution:

cos scos t=cos(s+t) + cos(s−t)

2

Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) uses this substitution to perform the multiplication

of 2 number using an algorithm known as prosthaphaeresis. Assume that you

want to multiply xtimes y. You first look a cosine table to look up the angle s

whose cosine is xand the angle twhose cosine is yand then determines what

are the cosines of s+tand of s−t. If you average these two cosines you get

the product xy.

3 THE ORIGIN OF THE TRIGONOMETRIC

FUNCTION TANGENT

Tangent was initially not associated to angles or circles but to the length of

the shadow that is projected by an object and that was used, for example, by

Thales to measure the height of the pyramids.

The first known shadows tables were produced by the Arabs around 860

using both the tangent and the cotangent that were translated into Latin as

umbra recta and umbra versa.

The first appearance of the term tangens (from the Latin tangere, to touch)

is due to Thomas Fincke (1561-1656) used in 1583 in its Book 14 of Geomet-

rica rotundi and was also used in 1632 by William Oughtred in The circles of

Proportion. Vi`ete was using the terms amsinus and prosinus and sinus foe-

cundarum because he did not approve of the term tangent because it could be

confused with the term in geometry..

The term cotangens was used by Edmund Gunter in 1620, cot. by Samuel

Jeake in 1696. Finally cot was proposed by A.G. K¨astner in Anfangsgr¨unde

der Arithmetik.

As for the notation Cavalieri was using Ta and Ta.2, Oughtred t arc and

t co arc and Wallis Tand t. The modern notation tan appears in a book of

Albert Girard (1595-1632), a French musician settled in the Netherlands with

an interest in algebra and military engineering, in 1626 and in the drawings of

Edmund Gunter but was written as

tan

The notation cot was proposed by Sir Jonas Moore in 1674.

4 THE HALF-ANGLE TANGENT SUBSTITU-

TION

As seen previously the half-angle sine formula was used very early. This is not

the case of the transformation:

t= tan(θ

2)⇒sin(θ) = 2t

1 + t2cos(θ) = 1−t2

1 + t2(1)

All the authors seem to agree that this substitution was first used by Weier-

strass (1815-1897) and is often called Weierstrass substitution of Weierstrass

t-substitution [7]. Weierstrass was interested in the integration of rational func-

tions of sin(θ) and cos(θ). In addition to equation (1) it is indeed easy to prove

that

dθ =2dt

1 + t2(2)

Combining equations (1) and (2) any integrand containing a rational function

of sin(θ) and cos(θ) can be converted to an integrand containing a rational

function of t. When considering integrals this substitution may lead to spurious

discontinuities [2]. For example the function 3/(5 −4 cos x) is continuous and

positive for all real x, and so its integral should be continuous and monotically

increasing. Using the Weierstrass substitution we get

Z3dx

5−4 cos x=Z6du

1 + 9u2= 2arctan(3 tan(x/2))

which is discontinuous at odd multiples of π.

A Note on the History of Trigonometric Functions (PDF Download Available). Available from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226367307_A_Note_on_the_History_of_Trigonometric_Functions [accessed
Jun 17, 2017].
 History of Trigonometry Outline
Trigonometry is, of course, a branch of geometry, but it differs from the synthetic geometry of Euclid and the
ancient Greeks by being computational in nature. For instance, Proposition I.4 of the Elements is the angle-side-
angle congruence theorem which states that a triangle is determined by any two angles and the side between
them. That is, if you want to know the remaining angle and the remaining two sides, all you have to do is lay out
the given side and the two angles at its ends, extend the other two sides until they meet, and you've got the
triangle. No numerical computations involved.

But the trigonometrical version is different. If you have the measurements of the two angles and the length of
the side between them, then the problem is to compute the remaining angle (which is easy, just subtract the sum
of the two angles from two right angles) and the remaining two sides (which is difficult). The modern solution
to the last computation is by means of the law of sines. Details are at Dave's Short Trig Course, Oblique
Triangles.
All trigonometrical computations require measurement of angles and computation of some trigonometrical
function. The modern trigonometrical functions are sine, cosine, tangent, and their reciprocals, but in ancient
Greek trigonometry, the chord, a more intuitive function, was used.

Trigonometry, of course, depends on geometry. The law of cosines, for instance, follows from a proposition of
synthetic geometry, namely propositions II.12 and II.13 of the Elements. And so, problems in trigonometry have
required new developments in synthetic geometry. An example is Ptolemy's theorem which gives rules for the
chords of the sum and difference of angles, which correspond to the sum and difference formulas for sines and
cosines.

The prime application of trigonometry in past cultures, not just ancient Greek, is to astronomy. Computation of
angles in the celestial sphere requires a different kind of geometry and trigonometry than that in the plane. The
geometry of the sphere was called "spherics" and formed one part of the quadrivium of study. Various authors,
including Euclid, wrote books on spherics. The current name for the subject is "elliptic geometry."
Trigonometry apparently arose to solve problems posed in spherics rather than problems posed in plane
geometry. Thus, spherical trigonometry is as old as plane trigonometry.

The Babylonians and angle measurement

The Babylonians, sometime before 300 B.C.E. were using degree measurement for angles. The Babylonian
numerals were based on the number 60, so it may be conjectured that they took the unit measure to be what we
call 60°, then divided that into 60 degrees. Perhaps 60° was taken as the unit because the chord of 60° equals the
radius of the circle, see below about chords. Degree measurement was later adopted by Hipparchus.

The Babylonians were the first to give coordinates for stars. They used the ecliptic as their base circle in the
celestial sphere, that is, the crystal sphere of stars. The sun travels the ecliptic, the planets travel near the
ecliptic, the constellations of the zodiac are arranged around the ecliptic, and the north star, Polaris, is 90° from
the ecliptic. The celestial sphere rotates around the axis through the north and south poles. The Babylonians
measured the longitude in degrees counterclockwise from the vernal point as seen from the north pole, and they
measured the latitude in degrees north or south from the ecliptic.

Hipparchus of Nicaea (ca. 180 - ca. 125 B.C.E.)

Hipparchus was primarily an astronomer, but the beginnings of trigonometry apparently began with him.
Certainly the Babylonians, Egyptians, and earlier Greeks knew much astronomy before Hipparchus, and they
also determined the positions of many stars on the celestial sphere before him, but it is Hipparchus to whom the
first table of chords is attributed. It has been hypothesized that Apollonius and even Archimedes constructed
tables of chords before him, but there is no reference to any such earlier table.

Some of Hipparchus' advances in astronomy include the calculation of the mean lunar month, estimates of the
sized and distances of the sun and moon, variants on the epicyclic and eccentric models of planetary motion, a
catalog of 850 stars (longitude and latitude relative to the ecliptic), and the discovery of the precession of the
equinoxes and a measurement of that precession.

According to Theon, Hipparchus wrote a 12-book work on chords in a circle, since lost. That would be the first
known work of trigonometry. Since the work no longer exists, most everything about it is speculation. But a few
things are known from various mentions of it in other sources including another of his own. It included some
lengths of chords corresponding to various arcs of circles, perhaps a table of chords. Besides these few scraps of
information, others can be inferred from knowledge that was taken as well-known by his successors.

Chords as a basis of trigonometry

In a modern presentation of trigonometry, the sine and cosine of an angle a are
the y- and x-coordinates of a point on the unit circle, the point being the
intersection of the unit circle and one side of the angle a; the other side of the
angle is the positive x-axis. The Greek, Indian, Arabic, and early Europeans used
a circle of some other convenient radius. For this description of trigonometry,
we'll leave the radius unspecified as r and it's double, the diameter, we'll denote d.

The chord of an angle AOB where O is the center of a circle and A and B are two points on the circle, is just the
straight line AB. Chords are related to the modern sine and cosine by the formulas

crd a = d sin (a/2) crd (180° - a) = d cos (a/2)

sin a = (1/d) crd 2a cos a = (1/d) crd (180° - 2a)

where a is an angle, d the diameter, and crd an abbreviation for chord.

Some properties of chords could not have escaped Hipparchus' notice,

especially in a 12-book work on the subject. For instance, a supplementary-
angle formula would state that if AOB and BOC are supplementary angles,
then Thales' theorem states that triangle ABC is right, so the Pythagorean
theorem says the square on the chord AB plus the square on the chord BC
equals the square on the diameter AC. Summarized using a modern
algebraic notation

crd2 AOB + crd2 BOC = d2

where d is the diameter of the circle.

Hipparchus probably constructed his table of chords using a half-angle

formula and the supplementary angle formula. The half-angle formula in terms of chords is

crd2(t/2) = r(2r - crd (180° - t)

where r is the radius of the circle and t is an angle. Starting with crd 60° = r, Hippocrates could by means of this
half-angle formula find the chords of 30°, 15°, and 7 1/2°. He could complete a table of chords in 7 1/2° steps
by using crd 90°, the half-angle formula, and the supplementary angle formula.

What other relations among the chords of various angles that Hippocrates would have known remains
speculation.

Menelaus (ca. 100 C.E.)

The earliest work on spherical trigonometry was Menelaus' Spherica. It included what is now called Menelaus'
theorem which relates arcs of great circles on spheres. Of course,
Menelaus stated his result in terms of chords, but in terms of
modern sines, his theorem reads
sin CE sin CF sin BD
=
sin EA sin FD sin BA
and
sin CA sin CD sin BF
=
sin EA sin FD sin BE

He proved this result by first proving the plane version, then

"projecting" back to the sphere. The plane version says

CE CF BD
=
EA FD BA
and
CA CD BF
=
EA FD BE

Ptolemy (ca. 100 - 178 C.E.)

Claudius Ptolemy's famous mathematical work was the Mathematike Syntaxis (Mathematical Collection)
usually known as the Almagest. It is primarily a work on astronomy which included mathematical theory
relevant to astronomy. It included trigonometric table, a table of chords for angles from 1/2° to 180° in
increments of 1/2°, the chords were rounded to two sexagesimal places, about five digits of accuracy. He also
included the geometry necessary to construct the table. He computed the chord of 72°, an central angle of a
pentagon, a constructable angle. Along with the chord of 60° (the radius which Ptolemy took to be 60), that
gives crd 12°, then crd 6°, crd 3°, crd 1 1/2°, and crd 3/4°. He used interpolation to find crd 1° and crd 1/2°.

Ptolemy's Theorem

Ptolemy proved the theorem that gives the sum and difference formulas
for chords.
Theorem. For a cyclic quadrilateral (that is, a quadrilateral
inscribed in a circle), the product of the diagonals equals the sum
of the products of the opposite sides.
AC BD = AB CD + AD BC
When AD is a diameter of the circle, then the theorem says
crd AOC crd BOD = crd AOB crd COD + d crd BOC.

where O is the center of the circle and d the diameter. If we take a to be

angle AOB and b to be angle AOC, then we have
 crd b crd (180° - a) = crd a crd (180° - b) + d crd (b - a)

which gives the difference formula

crd b crd (180° - a) - crd a crd (180° - b)

crd (b - a) =
d

With a different interpretation of a and b, the sum formula results:

crd b crd (180° - a) + crd a crd (180° - b)

crd (b + a) =
d

These, of course, correspond to the sum and difference formulas for sines.

Armed with his theorem, Ptolemy could complete his table of chords from 1/2° to 180° in increments of 1/2°.

Trigonometry

Computational trigonometry could only begin after the construction of a good trig table, and so Ptolemy
proceeded. Although he did not systematically give methods for solving right triangles and oblique triangles,
solutions to specific problems are found in the Almagest. Those solutions that we would find using sines or
cosines are equally easy to solve with a table of chords, but those that we would solve with tangents would
require dividing a chord by the supplementary chord, making for a more difficult solution. A typical example of
that would be finding the height of a pole given the length of its shadow and the angle of inclination of the
shadow.

The primary source of information in this outline is Thomas Heath's A History of Greek Mathematics,
Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1921, currently reprinted by Dover, New York, 1981.

David E. Joyce,