The Sine Rule

The sine rule is an important rule relating the sides and angles of any triangle (it doesn't have
to be right-angled!):
If a, b and c are the lengths of the sides opposite
the angles A, B and C in a triangle, then:

a = b = c
sinA

sinB

sinC

If you wanted to find an angle, you can write
this as:
sinA = sinB = sinC
a

b

c
The Cosine Rule
This also works in any triangle:
c
2
= a
2
+ b
2
- 2abcosC
which can also be written as:
a
2
= b
2
+ c
2
- 2bccosA
The area of a triangle
The area of any triangle is absinC (using the above notation).
This formula is useful if you don't know the height of a triangle (since you need to know the
height for base height
Sin, Cos and Tan
The Sine, Cosine and Tangents of Common Angles


30 (x/6) 45 (x/4) 60 (x/3)
sin 1 / 2 1 /.2 .3 / 2
cos .3/ 2 1 / .2 1 / 2
tan 1 / .3 1 .3

These occur frequently and should be remembered.

Quadrants and the "cast" Rule
On a set of axes, angles are measured anti-clockwise from the positive x-axis. So 30 would
be drawn as follows:

The angles which lie between 0 and 90 are said to lie in the first quadrant. The angles
between 90 and 180 are in the second quadrant, angles between 180 and 270 are in the
third quadrant and angles between 270 and 360 are in the fourth quadrant:

In the first quadrant, the values for sin, cos and tan are positive.
In the second quadrant, the values for sin are positive only.
In the third quadrant, the values for tan are positive only.
In the fourth quadrant, the values for cos are positive only.

This can be summed up as follows:


In the fourth quadrant, Cos is positive, in the first, All are positive, in the second, Sin is
positive and in the third quadrant, Tan is positive. This is easy to remember, since it spells
"cast".

Related Angles
The sines, cosines and tangents of some angles are equal to the sines, cosines and tangents of
other angles. For example, cos(-30) = cos(30) and cos(30) = cos(390) . In the following
diagrams, the sines, cosines and tangents of each of the shaded angles have the same
magnitude (the same angle in each diagram):

For example, if = 30,
sin30 = 0.5
sin150 = 0.5
sin210 = -0.5
sin330 = -0.5

These angles are "related angles" and their cosines and tangents will be related in a similar
way. Note that the signs of the sines (/cosines/tangents) are found using the "cast" rule.
Solving Equations

Example
Solve the equation sin = 0.6428, for 0 < < 360

Take "arcsin" of both sides: = arcsin(0.6428)
= 40, 140, 400, ...
but the question asks for solutions between 0 and 360, so the answer is 40 and 140 .
See also: Solving Basic Equations, Solving Trigonometric Equations

Graphing sin, cos and tan
The following are graphs of sin, cos & tan

Points to note
The graphs of sin and cos are periodic, with period of 360 (in other words the graphs repeat
themselves every 360).
The graph of cos the same as the graph of sin though it is shifted 90 to the right/ left. For this
reason sinx = cos(90 - x) and cosx = sin(90 - x)
Note that cos is an even function:- it is symmetrical in the y-axis. sin is an odd function.
The graph of tan has asymptotes. An asymptote is a line which the graph gets very close to,
but does not touch. The red lines are asymptotes.

These graphs obey the usual laws of graph transformations.
Arcsin, arccos, arctan
Arcsin is another way of writing the inverse of sin, arccos means the inverse of cos and arctan
means the inverse of tan. For example, arcsin(0.5) = 30 . However, although this is true, we
also know that sin(150) = 0.5 (using the idea of related angles and the "cast rule"). If we
continue moving round the "unit circle" (the circle with radius 1 that we have been drawing
angles on above), then we find that sin(390) is also 0.5 .
So we can write arcsin(0.5) = 30, 150, 390, ...
It is possible to draw graphs of arcsin, arccos and arctan and you may need to know how to
do this.
Trigonometry Identities
- sinx + cosx = 1 (*)
tan x = sin x / cos x
Sec, Cosec and Cot
Secant, cosecant and cotangent, almost always written as sec, cosec and cot are trigonometric
functions like sin, cos and tan.
sec x = 1
cos x
cosec x = 1
sin x
cot x = 1 = cos x
tan x sin x
Note, sec x is not the same as cos
-1
x (sometimes written as arccos x).
Remember, you cannot divide by zero and so these definitions are only valid when the denominators
are not zero.
Example
If sec x = 2, cos x = , x = 60
Graphs of sec x and cosec x

Pythagorean Identities
The identity: sinx + cosx = 1 can be used to derive two more important identities:
By dividing each of these terms by sinx, we can derive a second identity:
- 1 + cotx = cosecx
By dividing (*) by cosx, we arrive at the third (and final) identity:
- tanx + 1 = secx
These identities work for any angle x (measure in either degrees or radians).
Compound Angle Formulae
sin(A + B) DOES NOT equal sinA + sinB. Instead, you must expand such expressions using
the formulae below.
The following are important trigonometric relationships:
sin(A + B) = sinAcosB + cosAsinB
cos(A + B) = cosAcosB - sinAsinB
tan(A + B) = tanA + tanB
1 - tanAtanB

To find sin(A - B), cos(A - B) and tan(A - B), just change the + signs in the above identities
to - signs and vice-versa:

sin(A - B) = sinAcosB - cosAsinB
cos(A - B) = cosAcosB + sinAsinB
tan(A - B) = tanA - tanB
1 + tanAtanB
rcos( + ) form
When we have an expression in the form: acos + bsin, it is sometimes best to rewrite this
in the form rcos( + ), especially when solving trigonometric equations.
To calculate what r and are, note that rcos( + ) = r cos cos - r sin sin = r cos cos
- r sin sin by the above identity.
So we need to set rcos = a and -rsin = b to make this equal to acos + bsin
So we have two equations:
rcos = a (1)
rsin = -b (2)
We can find by dividing (2) by (1):
sin/cos = -b/a , hence tan = -b/a which we can solve.
We can find r by squaring and adding (1) and (2):
r
2
cos
2
+ r
2
sin
2
= a
2
+ b
2
hence r
2
= a
2
+ b
2
(since cos
2
+ sin
2
= l)
In a similar way, we can write expressions of the form acos + bsin as rsin( + )
Double Angle Formulae
sin(A + B) = sinAcosB + cosAsinB
Replacing B by A in the above formula becomes:
sin(2A) = sinAcosA + cosAsinA
so: sin2A = 2sinAcosA
similarly:
cos2A = cos
2
A - sin
2
A
Replacing cos
2
A by 1 - sin
2
A (see Pythagorean identities) in the above formula gives:
cos2A = 1 - 2sin
2
A
Replacing sin
2
A by 1 - cos
2
A gives:
cos2A = 2cos
2
A - 1
It can also be shown that:
tan2A = 2tanA
1 - tan
2
A
Product to Sum Formulae
Sometimes it is useful to be able to write a product of trigonometric functions as a sum of
simpler trigonometric functions (this might make integration easier, for example).
Now, cos(A + B) = cosAcosB - sinAsinB
and cos(A - B) = cosAcosB + sinAsinB
Adding these two:
cos(A + B) + cos(A - B) = 2cosAcosB
Subtracting one from the other:
cos(A - B) - cos(A + B) = 2sinAsinB
Similar formula can be obtained using the expansion of sin(A + B).
Differentiating x to the power of something
1) If y = x
n
, dy/dx = nx
n-1

2) If y = kx
n
, dy/dx = nkx
n-1
(where k is a constant- in other words a number)
Therefore to differentiate x to the power of something you bring the power down to in front
of the x, and then reduce the power by one.
Notation
There are a number of ways of writing the derivative. They are all essentially the same:
(1) If y = x
2
, dy/dx = 2x
This means that if y = x
2
, the derivative of y, with respect to x is 2x.

(2) d (x
2
) = 2x
dx
This says that the derivative of x
2
with respect to x is 2x.

(3) If f(x) = x
2
, f'(x) = 2x
This says that is f(x) = x
2
, the derivative of f(x) is 2x.
Finding the Gradient of a Curve
A formula for the gradient of a curve can be found by differentiating the equation of the
curve.
Example
What is the gradient of the curve y = 2x
3
at the point (3,54)?
dy/dx = 6x
2

When x = 3, dy/dx = 6 9 = 54
Integration
Introduction
Integration is the reverse of differentiation.
However:
If y = 2x + 3, dy/dx = 2
If y = 2x + 5, dy/dx = 2
If y = 2x, dy/dx = 2

So the integral of 2 can be 2x + 3, 2x + 5, 2x, etc.
For this reason, when we integrate, we have to add a constant. So the integral of 2 is 2x + c,
where c is a constant.
A "S" shaped symbol is used to mean the integral of, and dx is written at the end of the terms
to be integrated, meaning "with respect to x". This is the same "dx" that appears in dy/dx .

To integrate a term, increase its power by 1 and divide by this figure. In other words:

When you have to integrate a polynomial with more than 1 term, integrate each term. So:

Differentiation of Trigonometric Functions
It is possible to find the derivative of trigonometric functions.
Here is a list of the derivatives that you need to know:

d (sin x) = cos x
dx

d (cos x) = sin x
dx

d (sec x) = sec x tan x
dx

d (cosec x) = cosec x cot x
dx

d (tan x) = secx
dx

d (cot x) = cosecx
dx

One condition upon these results is that x must be measured in radians.
Applying the Chain Rule
The chain rule is used to differentiate harder trigonometric functions.
Example
Differentiate cosx with respect to x.
Let y = cosx
Let u = cos x
therefore y = u
dy = 3u
du

du = -sin x
dx

dy = du dy
dx dx du
= -sin x 3u
= -sin x 3cosx
= -3cosx sin x
Integration by Parts
From the product rule, we can obtain the following formula, which is very useful in
integration:

It is used when integrating the product of two expressions (a and b in the bottom formula).
When using this formula to integrate, we say we are "integrating by parts".

Sometimes you will have to integrate by parts twice (or possibly even more times) before you
get an answer.
Example
Find xe
-x
dx
Integrating by parts (with v = x and du/dx = e
-x
), we get:
-xe
-x
- -e
-x
dx (since e
-x
dx = -e
-x
)
= -xe
-x
- e
-x
+ constant
We can also sometimes use integration by parts when we want to integrate a function that
cannot be split into the product of two things. The trick we use in such circumstances is to
multiply by 1 and take du/dx = 1.
Example
Find ln x dx
To integrate this, we use a trick, rewrite the integrand (the expression we are integrating) as
1.lnx . We then let v = ln x and du/dx = 1 .
Hence ln x dx = x ln x - x (1/x) dx
= x lnx - dx
= x lnx - x + constant
Integration by Substitution
It is possible to transform a difficult integral to an easier integral by using a substitution.
For example, suppose we are integrating a difficult integral which is with respect to x. We
might be able to let x = sin t, say, to make the integral easier. As long as we change "dx" to
"cos t dt" (because if x = sin t then dx/dt = cost) we can now integrate with respect to t and
we will get the same answer as if we had done the original integral.
By using substitutions, we can show that:

The second one is especially important. If you want to integrate a fraction, where the top is
the differential of the bottom, the answer is simply ln of the bottom plus a constant.
Example
Find the integral of:
(a) -sin x cosx
(b) 3x
x + 1

(a) Using the first of the two above formulae above, imagine f(x) = cos x and n = 2. Therefore
[f(x)] = cosx and f "(x) = -sin x. Therefore, since n = 2, the answer is simply (cosx)/ 3 + c

(b) Since the top is the differential of the bottom, we can use the second of the two formulae
above to get the answer of ln(x + 1) + c.
Using a Substitution
Sometimes you will be told to integrate a function by using a substitution. Unless the
substitution is simple, you will probably be told what substitution to use in the exam.
Example

Integration Techniques
Important Formulae




Rewriting the Integrand
Dividing
If you are asked to integrate a fraction, try multiplying or dividing the top and bottom of the
fraction by a number.
Example

If we divide everything on the numerator and everything on the denominator by x
2
, we get:
= (3x 4x
-1
5x
-2
) dx
= 3x
2
4lnx + 5x
-1
+ c
2
Split into Partial Fractions
Sometimes it will help if you split a fraction up before attempting to integrate. This can be
done using the method of partial fractions.
Example

(Here we split the fraction into partial fractions)
= -3lnx + 4ln(x - 1) + (x - 1)
-1
+ c
Using Trigonometric Formulae
When integrating trigonometric expressions, it will often help to rewrite the integral using
trigonometric formulae.
Example
cos
2
x dx
cos2x = 2cos
2
x - 1
cos
2
x = (cos2x + 1)
cos
2
x dx = (cos2x + 1) dx
= ( sin2x + x) + c
= sin2x + x + c
Formulae
The formulae that you are expected to know in the exam can be found here. Note that this is
relevant to the OCR exam board for people who started their course before September 2004.
On slower computers, the images may take a few moments to display. Please be patient!

P1 Formulae



P2 Formulae



P3 Formulae