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If one angle of a triangle is 90 degrees and one of the other angles is known, the third is thereby fixed, because the three angles of any triangle add up to 180 degrees. The two acute angles therefore add up to 90 degrees: they are complementary angles. The shape of a triangle is completely determined, except for similarity, by the angles. Once the angles are known, the ratios of the sides are determined, regardless of the overall size of the triangle. If the length of one of the sides is known, the other two are determined. These ratios are given by the following trigonometric functions of the known angle A, where a, b and c refer to the lengths of the sides in the accompanying figure: Sine function (sin), defined as the ratio of the side opposite the angle to the hypotenuse. \sin A=\frac{\textrm{opposite}}{\textrm{hypotenuse}}=\frac{a}{\,c\,}\,. Cosine function (cos), defined as the ratio of the adjacent leg to the hypotenuse. \cos A=\frac{\textrm{adjacent}}{\textrm{hypotenuse}}=\frac{b}{\,c\,}\,. Tangent function (tan), defined as the ratio of the opposite leg to the adjacent leg. \tan A=\frac{\textrm{opposite}}{\textrm{adjacent}}=\frac{a}{\,b\,}=\frac{\sin A}{\cos A}\,. The hypotenuse is the side opposite to the 90 degree angle in a right triangle; it is the longest side of the triangle, and one of the two sides adjacent to angle A. The adjacent leg is the other side that is adjacent to angle A. The opposite side is the side that is opposite to angle A. The terms perpendicular and base are sometimes used for the opposite and adjacent sides respectively. Many people find it easy to remember what sides of the right triangle are equal to sine, cosine, or tangent, by memorizing the word SOH-CAH-TOA (see below under Mnemonics). The reciprocals of these functions are named the cosecant (csc or cosec), secant (sec), and cotangent (cot), respectively: \csc A=\frac{1}{\sin A}=\frac{c}{a} , \sec A=\frac{1}{\cos A}=\frac{c}{b} , \cot A=\frac{1}{\tan A}=\frac{\cos A}{\sin A}=\frac{b}{a} . The inverse functions are called the arcsine, arccosine, and arctangent, respectively. There are arithmetic relations between these functions, which are known as trigonometric identities. The cosine, cotangent, and cosecant are so named because they are respectively the sine, tangent, and secant of the complementary angle abbreviated to "co-". With these functions one can answer virtually all questions about arbitrary triangles by using the law of sines and the law of cosines. These laws can be used to compute the remaining angles and sides of any triangle as soon as two sides and their included angle or two angles and a side or three sides are known. These laws are useful in all branches of geometry, since every polygon may be described as a finite combination of triangles. Extending the definitions[edit] Fig. 1a – Sine and cosine of an angle θ defined using the unit circle. The above definitions apply to angles between 0 and 90 degrees (0 and π/2 radians) only. Using the unit circle, one can extend them to all positive and negative arguments (see trigonometric function). The trigonometric functions are periodic, with a period of 360 degrees or 2π radians. That means their values repeat at those intervals. The tangent and cotangent functions also have a shorter period, of 180 degrees or π radians. The trigonometric functions can be defined in other ways besides the geometrical definitions above, using tools from calculus and infinite series. With these definitions the trigonometric functions can be defined for complex numbers. The complex exponential function is particularly useful. e^{x+iy} = e^x(\cos y + i \sin y). See Euler's and De Moivre's formulas. Graphing process of y = sin(x) using a unit circle. Graphing process of y = tan(x) using a unit circle. Graphing process of y = csc(x) using a unit circle. Mnemonics[edit] Main article: Mnemonics in trigonometry A common use of mnemonics is to remember facts and relationships in trigonometry. For example, the sine, cosine, and tangent ratios in a right triangle can be remembered by representing them and their corresponding sides as strings of letters. For instance, a mnemonic is SOH-CAH-TOA:[14] Sine = Opposite ÷ Hypotenuse Cosine = Adjacent ÷ Hypotenuse Tangent = Opposite ÷ Adjacent One way to remember the letters is to sound them out phonetically (i.e., SOH-CAH-TOA, which is pronounced 'so-kə-toe-uh' /soʊkəˈtoʊə/). Another method is to expand the letters into a sentence, such as "Some Old Hippy Caught Another Hippy Trippin' On Acid".[15] Calculating trigonometric functions[edit] Main article: Generating trigonometric tables Trigonometric functions were among the earliest uses for mathematical tables. Such tables were incorporated into mathematics textbooks and students were taught to look up values and how to interpolate between the values listed to get higher accuracy. Slide rules had special scales for trigonometric functions. Today scientific calculators have buttons for calculating the main trigonometric functions (sin, cos, tan, and sometimes cis and their inverses). Most allow a choice of angle measurement methods: degrees, radians, and sometimes grad. Most computer programming languages provide function libraries that include the trigonometric functions. The floating point unit hardware incorporated into the microprocessor chips used in most personal computers has built-in instructions for calculating trigonometric functions.[16] |
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