Trigonometry

Lesson Two: Introduction to Trigonometry

The Basics

Trigonometry Is

the measurement of triangles; it is usually studied as measurements of sides and angles of triangles and as points on a unit circle.

Important Things to Remember

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Pythagorean Theorem Special Right Triangles Trigonometric Functions Law of Cosines & Sines Unit Circle Identities Half & Double Angle Formulas

I will go over these topics and some examples in the next several slides.

Pythagorean Theorem
The Pythagorean Theorem is really easy once you get the hang of it. (leg + leg = hypotenuse) OR (a + b = c) 1. When the two leg lengths are known (a & b), square the length of the each leg, add these two squares together, and square root the resulting sum. 2. When the length of the hypotenuse (c) and either leg is known (a or b), square the length of the hypotenuse, square the length of the leg, subtract these two squares and square root the resulting difference. Example 1 Example 2

Special Right Triangles

There are two special right triangles: a 30-60-90 and a 45-45-90.

30-60-90
These triangles have side lengths with ratios of 1:3:2, which means the longest leg is always 3 times the length of the shortest leg, and the hypotenuse is always 2 times the shortest leg.

45-45-90
These triangles have side lengths with ratios of 1:1:2, which means that the two legs have the same length (if two angles of a right triangle are equal, then the two legs are equal) and the hypotenuse is 2 times the length of either leg.

Trig Functions
The trig functions of an angle are related to the ratios of the sides of a right angle. They are defined with sine (sin), cosine (cos), tangent (tan), cosecant (csc), secant (sec), contangent (cot) and theta ().

*opposite leg (opp), hypotenuse (hyp) and adjacent leg (adj).

Law of Cosine
c = a + b - 2ab cos C Example: x = 5 + 8 - 2(5)(8) cos(70) x = 89 80 cos(70) x = 61.64 X = 7.85

Law of Sine

Example: sin40 10 = x sin40 sin54 sin40 sin4010 = X sin54 X 7.945

The Unit Circle

Identities
Pythagorean Identities
sin + cos = 1 tan + 1 = sec cot + 1 = csc

Reduction Formulas
sin(- ) = -sin cos(- ) = cos tan(- ) = -tan sin = -sin( - ) cos = -cos( - ) tan = -tan( - )

Sum/Difference of Two Angles

sin( ) = sin cos cos sin cos( ) = cos cos sin sin
tan( ) = tan tan 1 tan tan

Reciprocal Identities
csc = 1 sin cot = 1 tan sec = 1 cos

Quotient Identities
tan = sin cos cot = cos sin

Half & Double Angle Formulas

Half and Double Angle Formulas come in handy when you start to focus on the Identities part of Trig, seeing as they are a branch OF identities.

Half-Angle Identities
sint/2 = 1- cost OVER 2 cost/2 = 1+ cost OVER 2 tant/2 = 1- cost OVER 1+ cost

Double-Angle Identities
sin2t = 2sintcost cos2t = cost - sint cos2t = 1 2sint cos2t = 2cost 1 tan2t = 2tant OVER 1-tant sin2t = 1 cos2t OVER 2 cost = 1+ cos2t OVER 2