Lecture Notes Trigonometric Identities 2 page 1

Sample Problems

1
1. Find the exact value of sin if we know that is in the fourth quadrant and cos = .
3
2
2. Suppose that x is in the third quadrant and sin x = . Find the exact value of each of the
5
following.
a) cos x b) sec x c) tan x
1
3. Find the exact value of cos where is an acute angle with tan = :
2
4. If cot A = 2; then what is the exact value of sin A?
tan t + sin ( t) cos ( t)
5. Simplify :
tan t

Practice Problems
3
1. Find the exact value of cos if we know that is NOT in the fourth quadrant and sin = .
4
1
2. Find the exact value of tan B if we know that 90 < B < 180 and cos B = .
5
3. Suppose that x is in the second quadrant and cot x = 3. Find the exact value of sin x.

4. Suppose that x is in NOT the second quadrant and cot x = 3. Find the exact value of sin x.

c copyright Hidegkuti, Powell, 2010 Last revised: May 25, 2010

Lecture Notes Trigonometric Identities 2 page 2

Sample Problems - Answers

p p
8 21 5 2 2 1
1.) 2.) a) b) p c) p 3.) p 4.) p 5.) sin2 t
3 5 21 21 5 5

Practice Problems - Answers

p
7 p 1 1
1.) 2.) 2 6 3.) p 4.) p
4 10 10

Sample Problems - Solutions

1
1. Find the exact value of sin if we know that is in the fourth quadrant and cos = .
3
Solution: We can solve for sin in the equation sin2 + cos2 = 1.

sin2 + cos2 = 1
sin2 = 1 cos2 s
2
r r p
p 1 1 8 8
sin = 1 cos2 = 1 = 1 = =
3 9 9 3
p
8
Since is in the fourth quadrant, sin is negative. Thus sin =
3
2
2. Suppose that x is in the third quadrant and sin x = . Find the exact value of each of the
5
following.
a) cos x
Solution: We can solve for cos x in the equation sin2 x + cos2 x = 1.

sin2 x + cos2 x = 1
cos2 x = 1 sin2 x s r r p
p 2
2
4 21 21
cos x = 1 sin2 x = 1 = 1 = =
5 25 25 5
p
21
Since x is in the third quadrant, cos x is negative. Thus cos x =
5

c copyright Hidegkuti, Powell, 2010 Last revised: May 25, 2010

Lecture Notes Trigonometric Identities 2 page 3

b) sec x
1 1 5
Solution: sec x = = p = p
cos x 21 21
5
c) tan x
2
sin x 2 5 2
Solution: tan x = = p5 = p =p
cos x 21 5 21 21
5
1
3. Find the exact value of cos where is an acute angle with tan = .
2
Solution: We will see two dierent methods of solving for this problem.
Method 1. Since is an acute angle, all trigonometric functions are positive. Now that we
1
established the signs, let us draw a right triangle where tan = .
2

We can easily compute the hypotenuse of this triangle, using the Pythagorean theorem. The
p 2
hypotenuse is 5 long. Then we can read the value of cos to be p :
5
Method 2. Let us start with the Pythagorean identity.

sin2 + cos2 = 1 divide both sides by cos2

sin2 cos2 1
+ =
cos2 cos2 cos2
1
tan2 +1 = take the reciprocal of both sides
cos2
1
2
= cos2 square-root property
r tan +1
1
2
= cos
tan +1
Since is an acute angle, cos is the positive solution:
r v v r
1 u 1 u 1 4 2
cos = = u = u = =p
u t 5
tan2 + 1 t 1 2 5 5
+1 4
2

c copyright Hidegkuti, Powell, 2010 Last revised: May 25, 2010

Lecture Notes Trigonometric Identities 2 page 4

1
4. If cot A = 2; then what is the exact value of sin A? p
5
Solution:
sin2 A + cos2 A = 1 divide by sin2 A
sin2 A cos2 A 1
2 + 2 =
sin A sin A sin2 A
1
1 + cot2 A = cot A = 2
sin2 A
1
1 + 22 =
sin2 A
1
5 =
sin2 A
1
sin2 A =
5
1
sin A = p
5
tan t + sin ( t) cos ( t)
5. Simplify
tan t
Solution: Since sin ( t) = sin t and cos ( t) = cos t; we can simplify the expression as
sin t sin t
tan t + sin ( t) cos ( t) tan t sin t cos t sin t cos t cos t sin t cos t
= = cos t = cos t
tan t tan t sin t cos t sin t
cos t cos t
sin t
cos t sin t cos t
cos t sin t sin t cos2 t sin t (1 cos2 t)
= = =
sin t sin t sin t
cos t
cos t
2
sin t sin t sin3 t
= = = sin2 t
sin t sin t

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c copyright Hidegkuti, Powell, 2010 Last revised: May 25, 2010