The Unit Circle

By: Jessica Nguyen, Kiet Trang,

Stephanie Barcenas, Zubair Lakhia
Period: 2

What is the unit circle?

- The unit circle is a circle that has a radius of 1. Unit circles
- usually consist of 0, multiples of 30, multiples of 45, multiples of
60, and multiples of 90
- It is important to know that moving in the x direction of the
circle represents Cosine, while moving the y direction represents
Sine.
(x , y) = (cos , sin)

Whats on the unit circle?

There are four quadrants in every unit circle:
Quadrant I: (0 to 90) or (0 to /2 )
Quadrant II: (90 to 180) or ( /2 to )
Quadrant III: (180 to 270) or ( to 3/2)
Quadrant IV: (270 to 360) or (3/2 to 2)
It is important to know how to convert degrees into radians and converting radians into
degrees.

Basic Angles that are frequently used

Reference Angles
Now you might wonder, Now that I know these basic angles,
how can do I solve complicated angles that are higher than
90?
Great Question!
To find these values, we must use the Reference Angles.
To find a reference angle of a number, it is the supplement
(180- x , x - 180), sometimes it can be (360 - x , x - 360).
If you are in radians everything is the same. The formulas would
be ( - x , x - ) or (2 - x)

Quadrant Angles
BE CAREFUL!!! You must know about
the Quadrant Angles.
EVERYTHING IS POSITIVE IN
QUADRANT I
Here are the rules you must know
Sin/Csc are positive in Quadrant II
Tan/Cot are positive in Quadrant III
Cos/Sec are positive in Quadrant IV
Sin/Csc are negative in Quadrant III,IV
Tan/Cot are negative in Quadrant II, IV
Cos/Sec are negative in Quadrant II,III

Quadrant Angles (con.)

An easier way to remember this is by
the saying All Students Take Calculus,
the acronym is A.S.T.C.
The A stands for All meaning that
everything is positive in Quadrant I.
The S stands for Sine stating that
Sine is positive in Quadrant II.
The T stands for Tangent, saying that
Tangent is positive in Quadrant III.
Finally, the C stands for Cosine,
which means Cosine is positive in
Quadrant IV. (Look at the picture for
visual perception.)

Example #1
Sin 225
Step 1: Before we fully attack this problem, let us recognize the quadrant angle of 225.
We know that 225 is in the third quadrant. This means we know that the answer has to be
negative, since Sine is negative in the third quadrant.
Step 2: We are still dealing with a pretty big number, so lets bring it down to its simplest
component. We need to use reference angles.
225-180 = 45
Step 3: We are finding the light at the end of the tunnel! We know what Sin 45 is!!
Sin 45 = 2/2
Step 4: Since it is in the third quadrant, the answer turns negative because it is sine.
Sin 225 = - 2/2

You have officially solved the problem, lets do more!

Example#2
Lets find Cos 11/6
Step 1 : If we convert (11/6) into degrees it is 330, this means that it is in the fourth
quadrant. Cosine is positive in the fourth quadrant.
Step 2 : Lets find the reference angle of the 116
2 - (11/6) = (/6)
We subtract by 2 (360) because it is more than 270
Step 3 : /6=30, we know what Cos 30 is
Cos 30 = 3/2
Step 4 : Check the reference angle. Cosine is positive in the fourth quadrant.
Cos (11/6) = 3/2

Lets do one more example

Example#3
Lets find Csc 240
Step 1 : Since we know that Csc is the reciprocal of sine, we can just convert into sine and
insert the reciprocal action later.
Sin 240
Step 2 : We know that this is in the third quadrant, so the answer has to be negative.
Step 3 : Lets find the reference angles of 240
240-180 = 60
Step 4 : We know what Sin 60 is, we are also aware that it is negative
Sin 60 = -()
Step 5 : Wait! We are not done yet. Dont forget to find the reciprocal of the answer. So we
would get
Csc 240 = 1/(-()) = -2
The answer is -2

We now have knowledge of the Unit Circle. We can use this later on in trig to solve, graph, and etc.

The End.