TRIGONOMETRY:FORMULAS,IDENTITIES,SOLUTIONOF

TRIANGLES
Trigonometricfunctionsofanacuteangle.Thebasic
definitionsofthevarioustrigonometricfunctionsaregivenintermsof
theacuteanglesofarighttriangle.SeeFig.1.Shownisarighttriangle
inwhichCistherightangle,thesideoppositebeingthehypotenusec.In
termsofthisrighttriangleofFig.1thedefinitionsareasfollows:

Trigonometricfunctionsofcomplementaryangles.TheacuteanglesAandB
oftherighttriangleABCarecomplementary,thatisA+B=90o.FromFig.1wehave

Theserelationsassociatethefunctionsinpairssineandcosine,tangentandcotangent,secant
andcosecanteachfunctionofapairbeingcalledthecofunctionoftheother.Thus,anyfunction
ofanacuteangleisequaltothecorrespondingcofunctionofthecomplementaryangle.

Trigonometricfunctionsofageneralangle.Intheabovedefinitions,the
trigonometricfunctionsareonlydefinedforanglesbetween0oand90o.Foranglesoutsidethis
rangetheyareundefined.Usingtheabovedefinition,theconceptsmakenosenseforangles
outsidethisrange.Formanyoftheapplicationsoftrigonometry,asintheproblemsofsurveying,
wheretheobjectisinthesolutionoftriangles,theabovedefinitionsareprobablyadequate.
However,theapplicationsoftrigonometricconceptsarebroadanddiverse,croppingupinmany
fields,especiallyinphysicsandengineering,oftenaspartofalgebraicallyexpressedrelationships
betweenvariousvariablesintheformofequations.Forfunctionsappearinginequationsitishighly
desirousthatthefunctionbedefinedforallvaluesoftheindependentvariable,notjustsomesmall
rangeofvalues.Consequently,thedefinitionofthetrigonometricfunctionshasbeenbroadenedin
suchawayastodefinemeaningsforthefunctionsforallangles,notjusttheanglesbetween0oand
90o.ThebroadeneddefinitionutilizestherectangularcoordinatesystemshowninFig.2.LetP(x,
y)beapointonacircleofradiusrandletbetheanglemeasuredcounterclockwisefromthe
positivexaxistolineOP.Thenthetrigonometricfunctionsaredefinedasfollows:

ThecoordinatesystemisdividedintofourquadrantsquadrantsI,II,III,andIVasshownin
thefigure.Thevaluesofxarepositivetotherightoftheoriginandnegativetotheleftofit,as
usual,andthevaluesofyarepositiveabovetheoriginandnegativebelowit.Thesignsofthe
functionschangefromquadranttoquadrant,dependingonthesignsofthexandycoordinatesof
pointP.Theanglecanbeeitherpositiveornegative,withthecounterclockwisedirection
consideredaspositive,andisgenerallymeasuredineitherdegreesorradians.Anglescanbeofany
sizepointPcanmakemultipletripsaroundtheorigin.
Itwillbenotedthatforanglesinthefirstquadrantthefunctionshavethesamevaluesasinthe
previousdefinition.

Reciprocalrelations.Animmediateconsequenceofthedefinitionsabovearethefollowing
reciprocalrelations:
sin=1/csctan=1/cotsec=1/cos
cos=1/seccot=1/tancsc=1/sin