MathHandbook

ofFormulas,ProcessesandTricks
Trigonometry

Preparedby:EarlL.Whitney,FSA,MAAA
Version1.03
October3,2013

Copyright20122013,EarlWhitney,RenoNV.AllRightsReserved

-2-

Trigonometry Handbook

This is the initial work product that will eventually result in an extensive handbook on the
subject of Trigonometry. In its current form, the handbook covers many of the subjects
contained in a Trigonometry course, but is not exhaustive. In the meantime, we are hopeful
that this material will be helpful to the student. Revisions to this handbook will be provided on
www.mathguy.us as they become available.

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10/03/2013

-3-

Trigonometry Handbook
Table of Contents

Page

Description

6
6
6
7
8

Chapter1:FunctionsandSpecialAngles
Definitions
SOHCAHTOA
TrigFunctionsofSpecialAngles
TrigFunctionValuesinQuadrantsII,III,andIV
TheUnitCircle

Chapter2:GraphsofTrigFunctions
GraphsofBasicTrigFunctions

10
10
11

Chapter3:InverseTrigonometricFunctions
Definitions
PrimaryValues
GraphsofInverseTrigFunctions

12
12
12
13
13
13
14
14
14
14

Chapter4:KeyAngleFormulas
AngleAdditionFormulas
DoubleAngleFormulas
HalfAngleFormulas
PowerReducingFormulas
ProducttoSumFormulas
SumtoProductFormulas
Cofunctions
LawofSines
LawofCosines
PythagoreanIdentities

15
16
18

Chapter5:SolvinganObliqueTriangle
SummaryofMethods
TheAmbiguousCase
FlowchartfortheAmbiguousCase

19
19
20
20

Chapter6:AreaofaTriangle
GeometryFormula
Heron'sFormula
TrigonometricFormulas
CoordinateGeometryFormula

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Trigonometry Handbook
Table of Contents

Page

Description

21
21
22
22
23
24

Chapter7:PolarCoordinates
Introduction
ConversionbetweenRectangularandPolarCoordinates
ExpressingComplexNumbersinPolarForm
OperationsonComplexNumbersinPolarForm
DeMoivre'sTheorem
DeMoivre'sTheoremforRoots

25
26

Chapter8:GraphingPolarFunctions
Cardioid
Rose

27
27
27
28
29
30
30
30

Chapter9:Vectors
Introduction
SpecialUnitVectors
VectorComponents
VectorProperties
DotProduct
VectorProjection
OrthogonalComponentsofaVector
Work

31

Index

UsefulWebsites
Mathguy.usDevelopedspecificallyformathstudentsfromMiddleSchooltoCollege,basedonthe
author'sextensiveexperienceinprofessionalmathematicsinabusinesssettingandinmathtutoring.
Containsfreedownloadablehandbooks,PCApps,sampletests,andmore.
http://www.mathguy.us/

WolframMathWorldPerhapsthepremiersiteformathematicsontheWeb.Thissitecontains
definitions,explanationsandexamplesforelementaryandadvancedmathtopics.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/

KhanAcademySuppliesafreeonlinecollectionofthousandsofmicrolecturesviaYouTubeon
numeroustopics.It'smathandsciencelibrariesareextensive.
www.khanacademy.org

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-5-

Trigonometry Handbook
Table of Contents

AnalyzeMathTrigonometryContainsfreeTrigonometrytutorialsandproblems.UsesJavaappletsto
exploreimportanttopicsinteractively.
http://www.analyzemath.com/Trigonometry.html

SchaumsOutline
Animportantstudentresourceforanyhighschoolorcollegemathstudentis
aSchaumsOutline.Eachbookinthisseriesprovidesexplanationsofthe
varioustopicsinthecourseandasubstantialnumberofproblemsforthe
studenttotry.Manyoftheproblemsareworkedoutinthebook,sothe
studentcanseeexamplesofhowtheyshouldbesolved.
SchaumsOutlinesareavailableatAmazon.com,Barnes&Nobleandother
booksellers.

Note: This study guide was prepared to be a companion to most books on the subject of High
School Trigonometry. Precalculus (4th edition) by Robert Blitzer was used to determine some of the
subjects to include in this guide.

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-6-

Trigonometry
TrigFunctionsandSpecialAngles

TrigonometricFunctions

SOHCAHTOA
sin

cos

tan

SpecialAngles

Radians

sin

sin

cos

cos

tan

tan

TrigFunctionsofSpecialAngles( )
Degrees
0

30

Version 1.03

45

60

90

undefined

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-7-

Trigonometry
TrigonometricFunctionValuesinQuadrantsII,III,andIV
InquadrantsotherthanQuadrantI,trigonometricvaluesforanglesarecalculatedinthefollowing
manner:

DrawtheangleontheCartesianPlane.

Calculatethemeasureoftheanglefromthex
axisto.

Findthevalueofthetrigonometricfunctionof
theangleinthepreviousstep.

Assigna or signtothetrigonometric
valuebasedonthefunctionusedandthe
quadrantisin.

Examples:
inQuadrantIICalculate: 180
For
sin 60

120,baseyourworkon180

,so:

120

60

inQuadrantIIICalculate:

180

For
210,baseyourworkon210

cos 30 ,so:

180

30

Version 1.03

inQuadrantIVCalculate: 360
For
tan 45

315,baseyourworkon360
1,so:

315

45

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10/03/2013

-8-

Trigonometry
TheUnitCircle

TheUnitCirclediagrambelowprovides and valuesonacircleofradius1atkeyangles.Atany

pointontheunitcircle,the coordinateisequaltothecosineoftheangleandthe coordinateis
equaltothesineoftheangle.Usingthisdiagram,itiseasytoidentifythesinesandcosinesofangles
thatrecurfrequentlyinthestudyofTrigonometry.

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Trigonometry
GraphsofBasicTrigonometricFunctions

Thesineandcosecantfunctionsarereciprocals.So:

sin

1
csc

and

csc

sin

Thecosineandsecantfunctionsarereciprocals.So:

cos

1
sec

and

sec

cos

Thetangentandcotangentfunctionsarereciprocals.So:

tan

Version 1.03

1
cot

and

cot

tan

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Trigonometry
InverseTrigonometricFunctions
InverseTrigonometricFunctions
Inversetrigonometricfunctionsaskthequestion:whichangle hasafunctionvalueof ?Forexample:

sin

0.5 askswhichanglehasasinevalueof0.5.Itisequivalentto:sin

tan

1askswhichanglehasatangentvalueof1.Itisequivalentto:tan

0.5.
1.

PrimaryValuesofInverseTrigonometricFunctions
Thereareaninfinitenumberofanglesthatanswerthesequestions.
So,mathematicianshavedefinedaprimarysolutionforproblems
involvinginversetrigonometricfunctions.Theanglewhichisthe
primarysolution(orprimaryvalue)isdefinedtobethesolutionthat
liesinthequadrantsidentifiedinthefigureatright.Forexample:
Thesolutionsto
2

sin

0.5are

.Thatis,thesetofallsolutionstothisequationcontainsthe

twosolutionsintheinterval 0, 2 ,aswellasallanglesthatare
integermultiplesof2 lessorgreaterthanthosetwoangles.
Giventheconfusionthiscancreate,mathematiciansdefineda
primaryvalueforthesolutiontothesekindsofequations.
Theprimaryvalueof forwhich

sin

0.5liesinQ1because0.5ispositive,andis

RangesofInverseTrigonometricFunctions
Therangesoftheinversetrigonometric
functionsaretherangesoftheprimaryvalues
ofthosefunctions.Atablesummarizingthese
isprovidedinthetableatright.

RangesofInverseTrigonometricFunctions
Function
sin

AnglesinQ4aregenerallyexpressedas
negativeangles.

cos

tan

Range
2
0
2

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Trigonometry
GraphsofInverseTrigonometricFunctions

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Trigonometry
KeyAngleFormulas

AngleAdditionFormulas

sin
sin

sin cos sin cos

sin cos sin cos
tan

cos
cos

cos cos
cos cos

tan

cos 2

sin sin
sin sin

DoubleAngleFormulas

sin 2 2 sin cos

tan 2

cos
sin
1 2 sin
2 cos
1

HalfAngleFormulas

Theuseofa+orsigninthehalfangle

sin

cos

formulasdependsonthequadrantinwhich

theangle resides.Seechartbelow.

SignsofTrigFunctions
ByQuadrant

tan

sin+
sin+
cos
cos+
tan
tan+
x
sin
sin
cos
cos+
tan+

tan

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Trigonometry
KeyAngleFormulas(contd)

PowerReducingFormulas

sin

tan

cos

ProducttoSumFormulas

SumtoProductFormulas

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-14-

Trigonometry
KeyAngleFormulas(contd)

Cofunctions
EachtrigonometricfunctionhasacofunctionwithsymmetricpropertiesinQuadrantI.Thefollowing
identitiesexpresstherelationshipsbetweencofunctions.
sin

cos 90

cos

sin 90

tan

cot 90

cot

tan 90

sec

csc 90

csc

sec 90

A
c

LawofSines(seeaboveillustration)

PythagoreanIdentities(foranyangle)

sin

cos

sec

tan

csc

cot

LawofCosines(seeaboveillustration)

cos

cos

cos

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Trigonometry
SolvinganObliqueTriangle
Severalmethodsexisttosolveanobliquetriangle,i.e.,atrianglewithnorightangle.Theappropriate
methoddependsontheinformationavailableforthetriangle.Allmethodsrequirethatthelengthof
atleastonesidebeprovided.Inaddition,oneortwoanglemeasuresmaybeprovided.Notethatif
twoanglemeasuresareprovided,themeasureofthethirdisdetermined(becausethesumofall
threeanglemeasuresmustbe180).Themethodsusedforeachsituationaresummarizedbelow.

GivenThreeSidesandnoAngles(SSS)
Giventhreesegmentlengthsandnoanglemeasures,dothefollowing:

UsetheLawofCosinestodeterminethemeasureofoneangle.
UsetheLawofSinestodeterminethemeasureofoneofthetworemainingangles.
Subtractthesumofthemeasuresofthetwoknownanglesfrom180toobtainthemeasure
oftheremainingangle.

GivenTwoSidesandtheAnglebetweenThem(SAS)
Giventwosegmentlengthsandthemeasureoftheanglethatisbetweenthem,dothefollowing:

UsetheLawofCosinestodeterminethelengthoftheremainingleg.
UsetheLawofSinestodeterminethemeasureofoneofthetworemainingangles.
Subtractthesumofthemeasuresofthetwoknownanglesfrom180toobtainthemeasure
oftheremainingangle.

GivenOneSideandTwoAngles(ASAorAAS)
Givenonesegmentlengthandthemeasuresoftwoangles,dothefollowing:

Subtractthesumofthemeasuresofthetwoknownanglesfrom180toobtainthemeasure
oftheremainingangle.
UsetheLawofSinestodeterminethelengthsofthetworemaininglegs.

GivenTwoSidesandanAnglenotbetweenThem(SSA)
ThisistheAmbiguousCase.Severalpossibilitiesexist,dependingonthelengthsofthesidesandthe
measureoftheangle.Thepossibilitiesarediscussedonthenextseveralpages.

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Trigonometry
SolvinganObliqueTriangle(contd)
TheAmbiguousCase(SSA)
Giventwosegmentlengthsandananglethatisnotbetweenthem,itisnotclearwhetheratriangleis
defined.Itispossiblethatthegiveninformationwilldefineasingletriangle,twotriangles,orevenno
triangle.Becausetherearemultiplepossibilitiesinthissituation,itiscalledtheambiguouscase.
Herearethepossibilities:

Therearethreecasesinwhich
Case1:

Producesnotrianglebecause isnotlongenoughtoreachthebase.

Case2:
Producesone(right)trianglebecause isexactlylongenoughtoreachthe
base. formsarightanglewiththebase,andistheheightofthetriangle.
Case3:
Producestwotrianglesbecause istherightsizetoreachthebaseintwo
places.Theanglefromwhich swingsfromitsapexcantaketwovalues.
Thereisonlyonecaseinwhich
Case4:

Producesonetrianglebecause isnotlongenoughtoreachthebase.

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Trigonometry
SolvingaTriangle(contd)
SolvingtheAmbiguousCase(SSA)
Howdoyousolvethetriangleineachofthecasesdiscussedabove.Assumetheinformationgivenis
thelengthsofsides and ,andthemeasureofAngle .Usethefollowingsteps:
Step1:Calculatethesineofthemissingangle(inthisdevelopment,angle ).
Step2:Considerthevalueofsin :

Ifsin

Ifsin

1,thenwehaveCase1thereisnotriangle.Stophere.

1,then

Step1:Use

sin

sin

90,andwehaveCase2arighttriangle.ProceedtoStep4.

Ifsin

1,thenwehaveCase3orCase4.Proceedtothenextsteptodeterminewhich.

Step3:Considerwhether

If
,thenwehaveCase3twotriangles.Calculatethevaluesofeachangle ,usingthe
LawofSines.Then,proceedtoStep4andcalculatetheremainingvaluesforeachtriangle.

If

,thenwehavecase4onetriangle.ProceedtoStep4.

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Trigonometry
SolvinganObliqueTriangle(contd)
SolvingtheAmbiguousCase(SSA)contd
Step4:Calculate .Atthispoint,wehavethelengthsofsides and ,andthemeasuresofAngles
and .IfwearedealingwithCase3twotriangles,wemustperformSteps4and5foreachangle.
180

Step4istocalculatethemeasureofAngle asfollows:

Step5:Calculate .Finally,wecalculatethevalueof usingtheLawofSines.Notethatinthecase

wheretherearetwotriangles,thereisanAngle ineach.So,theLawofSinesshouldbeused
relatingAngles and .

sin

sin
sin
sin

AmbiguousCaseFlowchart
Start Here

Value of
sin

Is

yes

no

Two triangles

Version 1.03

Calculate , and then .

Steps 4 and 5, above

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-19-

Trigonometry
AreaofaTriangle

AreaofaTriangle
Therearetwoformulasfortheareaofatriangle,dependingonwhatinformationaboutthetriangle
isavailable.

Formula1:Theformulamostfamiliartothestudentcanbeusedwhenthebaseandheightofthe
triangleareeitherknownorcanbedetermined.

where, isthelengthofthebaseofthetriangle.

istheheightofthetriangle.
Note:Thebasecanbeanysideofthetriangle.Theheightisthemeasureofthealtitudeof
whicheversideisselectedasthebase.So,youcanuse:

or

or

Formula2:Heronsformulafortheareaofatrianglecanbeusedwhen
thelengthsofallofthesidesareknown.Sometimesthisformula,though
lessappealing,canbeveryuseful.

where,

Note: issometimescalledthesemiperimeterofthetriangle.

, , arethelengthsofthesidesofthetriangle.

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Trigonometry
AreaofaTriangle(contd)

TrigonometricFormulas
Thefollowingformulasfortheareaofatrianglecomefromtrigonometry.Whichoneisused
dependsontheinformationavailable:
Twoanglesandaside:

Twosidesandanangle:

CoordinateGeometry
Ifthethreeverticesofatrianglearedisplayedinacoordinateplane,theformulabelow,usinga
determinant,willgivetheareaofatriangle.
,
,
,
Letthethreepointsinthecoordinateplanebe: ,
triangleisonehalfoftheabsolutevalueofthedeterminantbelow:

.Then,theareaofthe

Example:Forthetriangleinthefigureatright,theareais:

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-21-

Trigonometry
PolarCoordinates
PolarcoordinatesareanalternativemethodofdescribingapointinaCartesianplanebasedonthe
distanceofthepointfromtheoriginandtheanglewhoseterminalsidecontainsthepoint.First,lets
investigatetherelationshipbetweenapointsrectangularcoordinates , anditspolar
coordinates , .
Themagnitude,, isthedistanceofthepointfromthe
origin:

Theangle,,istheanglethelinefromthepointtothe
originmakeswiththepositiveportionofthexaxis.
Generally,thisangleisexpressedinradians,notdegrees.

tan

or

tan

Conversionfrompolarcoordinatestorectangularcoordinatesisstraightforward:
cos and

sin

Example1:Expresstherectangularform(4,4)inpolarcoordinates:

Given:
4
4

4
tan

tan

42
tan

Example2:Expressthepolarform(42,

So,thecoordinatesofthepointareasfollows:
Rectangularcoordinates:

1 inQuadrantII, so

Given:

42

4, 4

PolarCoordinates: 42,

)inrectangularcoordinates:

cos

42 cos

42

sin

42 sin

42

4
4

So,thecoordinatesofthepointareasfollows:
PolarCoordinates: 42,

Rectangularcoordinates:

4, 4

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-22-

Trigonometry
PolarCoordinates(contd)
ExpressingComplexNumbersinPolarForm
AcomplexnumbercanberepresentedaspointintheCartesianPlane,usingthehorizontalaxisfor
therealcomponentofthenumberandtheverticalaxisfortheimaginarycomponentofthenumber.
Ifweexpressacomplexnumberinrectangularcoordinatesas
,wecanalsoexpressitin
polarcoordinatesas
cos
sin ,with 0, 2 .Then,theequivalencesbetweenthe
twoformsfor are:
ConvertRectangulartoPolar
Magnitude:| |

tan

Angle:

ConvertPolartoRectangular

Since willgenerallyhavetwovalueson 0, 2
quadrantinwhich
resides.

xcoordinate:

cos

ycoordinate:

sin

,youneedtobecarefultoselecttheangleinthe

OperationsonComplexNumbersinPolarForm
cos

Anotherexpressionthatmaybeusefulis:
asanexponentialformof .Thatis:

sin ,acomplexnumbercanbeexpressed

cos

sin

Itisthisexpressionthatisresponsibleforthefollowingrulesregardingoperationsoncomplex
cos
sin ,
cos
sin .Then,
numbers.Let:

Multiplication:

cos

sin

So,tomultiplycomplexnumbers,youmultiplytheirmagnitudesandaddtheirangles.
Division:

cos

sin

So,todividecomplexnumbers,youdividetheirmagnitudesandsubtracttheirangles.
Powers:

cos

sin

Thisresultsdirectlyfromthemultiplicationrule.

Roots:

cos

sin

also,seeDeMoivresTheorembelow

Thisresultsdirectlyfromthepowerruleiftheexponentisafraction.

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-23-

Trigonometry
DeMoivresTheorem
AbrahamdeMoivre(16671754)wasaFrenchmathematicianwhoprovideduswithaveryuseful
Theoremfordealingwithoperationsoncomplexnumbers.
Ifwelet
page:

cos

sin

,DeMoivresTheoremgivesusthepowerruleexpressedontheprior
cos

Example1:Find

,wehave

3and

First,since

Then,

And,

tan

831.542 ~ 111.542

So,

sin

4;

7.

4,096

138.590inQ II

4,096 cos 111.542

1,504.0

sin 111.542

3,809.9

Example2:Find

2and

First,since

,wehave

Then,

And,

tan

1,109.052 ~ 29.052

So,

212.4

3;

243

221.810inQIII

7.

243 cos 29.052

sin 29.052

118.0

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-24-

Trigonometry
DeMoivresTheoremforRoots
Let

cos

sin

.Then, has distinctcomplex throotsthatoccupypositions

equidistantfromeachotheronacircleofradius .Letscalltheroots: ,
rootscanbecalculatedasfollows:
2

cos

sin

, ,

Then,these

Theformulacouldalsoberestatedwith2 replacedby360ifthishelpsinthecalculation.
Example:Findthefifthrootsof

.
2and

,wehave

3.

First,since

Then,

And,

Theincrementalangleforsuccessiverootsis:360

Thencreateachartlikethis:

13;

tan

56.310;

Fifthrootsof

Angle(

13 ~ 1.2924
11.262

5 roots

72.

11.262

1.2675

0.2524

11.262

72

60.738

0.6317

1.1275

60.738

72

132.738

0.8771

0.9492

132.738

72

204.738

1.1738

0.5408

204.738

72

276.738

0.1516

1.2835

Noticethatifweaddanother72,weget348.738,whichisequivalenttoourfirstangle,
11.262because 348.738 360
11.262.Thisisagoodthingtocheck.Thenext
anglewillalwaysbeequivalenttothefirstangle!Ifitisnt,gobackandcheckyourwork.
Rootsfitonacircle:Noticethat,sincealloftherootsof

havethesamemagnitude,andtheiranglesthatare72apartfrom
eachother,thattheyoccupyequidistantpositionsonacirclewith
center 0, 0 andradius

Version 1.03

13 ~ 1.2924.

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-25-

Trigonometry
GraphingPolarEquationsTheCardioid
Example:

Thiscardioidisalsoalimaonofform
sin with
.Theuseofthesinefunction
indicatesthatthelargeloopwillbesymmetricaboutthe axis.The signindicatesthatthelarge
loopwillbeabovethe axis.Letscreateatableofvaluesandgraphtheequation:

/6

7/6

/3

3.732

4/3

0.268

/2

3/2

2 /3

3.732

5 /3

0.268

5 /6

11 /6

Generally,youwanttolookat
valuesof in 0, 2 .However,
somefunctionsrequirelarger
intervals.Thesizeoftheinterval
dependslargelyonthenatureofthe
functionandthecoefficientof .

Oncesymmetryis
established,thesevalues
areeasilydetermined.

Theportionofthegraph
abovethexaxisresults

from inQ1andQ1,
wherethesinefunctionis
positive.

Similarly,theportionof

thegraphbelowthexaxis
resultsfrom inQ3and

Bluepointsonthegraph
correspondtobluevalues
inthetable.
Orangepointsonthe
graphcorrespondto
orangevaluesinthetable.

Q4,wherethesine

functionisnegative.

ThefourCardioidforms:

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-26-

Trigonometry
GraphingPolarEquationsTheRose
Example:

Thisfunctionisarose.Considertheforms

sin and

cos .

Thenumberofpetalsontherosedependsonthevalueof .
If isaneveninteger,therosewillhave2 petals.
If isanoddinteger,itwillhave petals.
Letscreateatableofvaluesandgraphtheequation:

/12

7/12

/6

3.464

2/3

3.464

/4

3/4

/3

3.464

5 /6

3.464

11 /12

5 /12
/2

Becausethisfunctioninvolvesan
argumentof2,wewanttostartby
lookingatvaluesofin 0, 2
2
0, .Youcouldplotmore
points,butthisintervalissufficient
toestablishthenatureofthecurve;
soyoucangraphtheresteasily.

Oncesymmetryis
established,thesevalues
areeasilydetermined.

Thevaluesinthetable

generatethepointsinthe
twopetalsrightofthe axis.
Knowingthatthecurveisa
roseallowsustographthe

othertwopetalswithout
calculatingmorepoints.

Bluepointsonthegraph
correspondtobluevalues
inthetable.
Orangepointsonthe
graphcorrespondto
orangevaluesinthetable.

ThefourRoseforms:

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-27-

Trigonometry
Vectors
Avectorisaquantitythathasbothmagnitudeanddirection.Anexamplewouldbewindblowing
towardtheeastat30milesperhour.Anotherexamplewouldbetheforceof10kgweightbeing
pulledtowardtheearth(aforceyoucanfeelifyouareholdingtheweight).

SpecialUnitVectors
Wedefineunitvectorstobevectorsoflength1.Unitvectorshavingthedirectionofthepositive
axeswillbequiteusefultous.Theyaredescribedinthechartandgraphicbelow.
UnitVector

Direction

positive axis

positive axis

positive axis

Graphical
representationof
unitvectors andj
intwodimensions.

VectorComponents
Thelengthofavector, ,iscalleditsmagnitudeandisrepresentedbythesymbol .Ifavectors
,anditsterminalpoint(endingposition)is ,
,thenthe
initialpoint(startingposition)is ,
vectordisplaces
inthe directionanddisplaces
inthe direction.We
can,then,representthevectorasfollows:

Themagnitudeofthevector, ,iscalculatedas:

Ifthislooksfamiliar,itshould.Themagnitudeofavectorisdeterminedasthelengthofthe
hypotenuseofatrianglewithsides and usingthePythagoreanTheorem.
Inthreedimensions,teseconceptsexpandtothefollowing:

Similarly,vectorscanbeexpandedtoanynumberofdimensions.

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-28-

Trigonometry
VectorProperties
Vectorshaveanumberofnicepropertiesthatmakeworkingwiththembothusefulandrelatively
simple.Let and bescalars,andletu,v andwbevectors.Then,

If

Then,

If

and

If

,then

Define tobethezerovector(i.e.,ithaszerolength,sothat
vectorisalsocalledthenullvector.

,then

cos and

cos

sin

sin
(note:thisformulaisusedinForcecalculations)

,then

0).Note:thezero

, .Thisnotationwillbe
Note:
canalsobeshownwiththefollowingnotation:
usefulincalculatingdotproductsandperformingoperationswithvectors.

PropertiesofVectors

AssociativeProperty

DistributiveProperty

DistributiveProperty

MultiplicativeIdentity

MagnitudeProperty

Unitvectorinthedirectionof

CommutativeProperty

AdditiveInverse

AssociativeProperty

AdditiveIdentity

Also,notethat:

Version 1.03

| |

Copyright 2012-2013, Earl Whitney, Reno, NV. All Rights Reserved

10/03/2013

-29-

Trigonometry
VectorDotProduct
TheDotProductoftwovectors,

and

,isdefinedasfollows:

Itisimportanttonotethatthedotproductisascalar,notavector.Itdescribessomethingaboutthe
relationshipbetweentwovectors,butisnotavectoritself.Ausefulapproachtocalculatingthedot
productoftwovectorsisillustratedhere:
,

General

alternative
vector
notation

Example
4, 3

2, 2
,
Takealookattheexampleatright.Noticethatthe
8 6 14
twovectorsarelinedupvertically.Thenumbersin
theeachcolumnaremultipliedandtheresultsare
addedtogetthedotproduct.Sointhisexample,4, 3 2, 2 14.

PropertiesoftheDotProduct
Let beascalar,andletu,v andwbevectors.Then,

0
0

ZeroProperty

Thesamepropertyholdsin3Dforanypairof , , and

CommutativeProperty

MagnitudeSquareProperty

Moreproperties:

DistributiveProperty

MultiplicationbyaScalarProperty

If

Ifthereisascalar suchthat

If istheanglebetween and ,thencos

Version 1.03

0and

and

,then and areorthogonal(perpendicular).

,then and areparallel.

Copyright 2012-2013, Earl Whitney, Reno, NV. All Rights Reserved

10/03/2013

-30-

Trigonometry
VectorDotProduct(contd)
VectorProjection
Theprojectionofavector, ,ontoanothervector ,isobtainedusingthedotproduct.Theformula
usedtodeterminetheprojectionvectoris:

proj

isascalar,andthatproj
Noticethat

Inthediagramatright,v1

proj

v2

isavector.

v1

OrthogonalComponentsofaVector
Avector, ,canbeexpressedasthesumoftwoorthogonalvectors and ,asshownintheabove
diagram.Theresultingvectorsare:
proj

and

Work
Workisascalarquantityinphysicsthatmeasurestheforceexertedonanobjectoveraparticular
distance.Itisdefinedusingvectors,asshownbelow.Let:

Fbetheforcevectoractingonanobject,movingitfrompoint topoint .

bethevectorfrom to .
betheanglebetweenFand

Then,wedefineworkas:

cos

Bothoftheseformulasareuseful.
Whichoneyouuseinaparticular
situationdependsonwhat
informationisavailable.

Version 1.03

Copyright 2012-2013, Earl Whitney, Reno, NV. All Rights Reserved

10/03/2013

-31-

Trigonometry
VectorDotProduct(contd)
VectorProjection
Theprojectionofavector, ,ontoanothervector ,isobtainedusingthedotproduct.Theformula
usedtodeterminetheprojectionvectoris:

proj

isascalar,andthatproj
Noticethat

Inthediagramatright,v1

proj

v2

isavector.

v1

OrthogonalComponentsofaVector
Avector, ,canbeexpressedasthesumoftwoorthogonalvectors and ,asshownintheabove
diagram.Theresultingvectorsare:
proj

and

Work
Workisascalarquantityinphysicsthatmeasurestheforceexertedonanobjectoveraparticular
distance.Itisdefinedusingvectors,asshownbelow.Let:

Fbetheforcevectoractingonanobject,movingitfrompoint topoint .

bethevectorfrom to .
betheanglebetweenFand

Then,wedefineworkas:

cos

Bothoftheseformulasareuseful.
Whichoneyouuseinaparticular
situationdependsonwhat
informationisavailable.

Version 1.03

Copyright 2012-2013, Earl Whitney, Reno, NV. All Rights Reserved

10/03/2013

-32-

Trigonometry Handbook
Index
Page

16
18
12
19
19
20
20
25
14
22
22
27
27
6
6
6
6
23
24
29
12
9
12
19
10
11
10
10
14
14
15
22
30
21
22

Version 1.03

Subject

AmbiguousCaseforObliqueTriangles
AmbiguousCaseforObliqueTrianglesFlowchart
AngleAdditionFormulas
AreaofaTriangle
GeometryFormula
Heron'sFormula
TrigonometricFormulas
CoordinateGeometryFormula
Cardioid
Cofunctions
ComplexNumbersOperationsinPolarForm
ComplexNumbersinPolarForm
ComponentsofVectors
ConversionbetweenRectangularandPolarCoordinates
CosecantFunction
CosineFunction
CotangentFunction
DefinitionsofTrigFunctions
DeMoivre'sTheorem
DeMoivre'sTheoremforRoots
DotProduct
DoubleAngleFormulas
GraphsofBasicTrigFunctions
HalfAngleFormulas
Heron'sFormula
InverseTrigonometricFunctions
Definitions
Graphs
PrimaryValues
Ranges
LawofCosines
LawofSines
ObliqueTriangleMethodstoSolve
OperationsonComplexNumbersinPolarForm
OrthogonalComponentsofaVector
PolarCoordinates
PolarformofComplexNumbersinPolarForm

Copyright 2012-2013, Earl Whitney, Reno, NV. All Rights Reserved

10/03/2013

-33-

Trigonometry Handbook
Index
Page

21
13
10
13
30
28
14
28

26
6
6
6
13
6
7
6
8
27
27
30
27
28
29
30
30
30

Version 1.03

Subject

PolartoRectangularCoordinateConversion
PowerReducingFormulas
PrimaryValuesofInverseTrigonometricFunctions
ProducttoSumFormulas
ProjectionofOneVectorontoAnother
PropertiesofVectors
PythagoreanIdentities
RectangulartoPolarCoordinateConversion
Rose
SecantFunction
SineFunction
SOHCAHTOA
SumtoProductFormulas
TangentFunction
TrigFunctionValuesinQuadrantsII,III,andIV
TrigFunctionsofSpecialAngles
UnitCircle
UnitVectorsiandj
Vectors
SpecialUnitVectorsi andj
VectorComponents
VectorProperties
DotProduct
VectorProjection
OrthogonalComponentsofaVector
Work

Copyright 2012-2013, Earl Whitney, Reno, NV. All Rights Reserved

10/03/2013