Trigonometry Review Problems

Part I

Calculators should not be used on this part. Leave answers in terms of pi and leave square roots in the
answers.

7π
1. Change 3 to degrees. __________

2. (a) Give the reference angle for:

300° __________ 495° __________ −150° __________

(b) Find the exact value of:

tan 300° __________ sec 495° __________ sin (−150°) __________

3. If cot θ = − 43 and sin θ > 0, find cos θ. __________

4. Fill in the blank for the values of y for each function below.
y = sin−1x _____ ≤ y ≤ _____
y = tan−1x _____ ≤ y ≤ _____
−1
y = cos x _____ ≤ y ≤ _____

5. Sketch one period of y = 2 cos x. Label axes and key points.

6. Find sin (arc cos − 3 ). __________

2

Part II

Calculators may be used on this part.

7. Give all possible rational zeros of p(x) = 5x4 − x2 + 6.

8. Find a polynomial, p(x), in factored form, if: zeros of p(x) are 2 − 3i and −1; and p(2) = 0.

9. Use synthetic division to divide x4 − 2x + 1 by x + 3. Write answer as a polynomial (plus a remainder, if

there is one).

10. Evaluate (round to 4 decimal places):

csc 35.4° __________ tan 1.72° __________

11. Evaluate y = arc sin (− 0.5211) where 0 ≤ y <2π.

12. Fill in the blank with a single trigonometric function of only 1 angle.

(a) 2 cos2 3x − 1 = __________ (b) sin 70° cos 15° − cos 70° sin 15° = __________

1+ cos 2 t
(c) − 2 = __________
 2 tan x
13. Verify the identity: 1+ tan 2 x = sin 2x

14. Give the period, amplitude and shift (with its direction) then sketch one period of the graph of
y = 3 tan (2x + π2 ). Label axes and asymptotes, if any.

period __________ amplitude __________ shift __________

15. A speed boat is on its way to rescue the crew of an over-turned sailboat. A helicopter 550 feet directly
above the water (and between the boats) reports the angle of depression to the speed boat to be 22.3° and
to the sailboat to be 17.2°. How far apart are the boats when these readings were taken?

16. Explain how you would find the length of the diagonal in the rectangle and parallelogram below and why
the 2 solutions would be different. Do not solve.

40°
4 4
110°
7 7
17. Find all solutions to the equation on the interval [0, 2π). Round to 1 decimal place.

sec2 2x − tan 2x = 3

18. Bloomer's Nursery has been hired to landscape 4 triangular gardens which surround a new convention
center. Each garden has sides that are 35 feet, 40 feet and 50 feet long. The area of each garden is
needed to determine the amount of mulch to be delivered. Find the total area of the 4 gardens. Round
answer to the nearest square foot.

19. Write −3 + 3i in trigonometric form with 0° ≤ 0 ≤ 360°.

20. Explain the difference between an arithmetic sequence and a geometric sequence. Give an example of
each.

21. The first 2 terms of a sequence a1 = 4 and a2 = 2. Without writing out the sequence, find the sum of the
first 20 terms of the sequence if the sequence is:

(a) arithmetic

(b) geometry

22. Find the 14th term of the expansion of (x + 2y)20.

 Answers to Trigonometry Review Problems

1. 420° 2. (a) 60° 45° 30° (b) − 3 , − 2, − 1

2 3. − 54

y
π π π π
4. − ≤ y≤ ; − ≤y≤ ; 0≤y≤ π 5. 2

2 2 2 2
   
π 3π
2 π 2 2π x

-2

1 1 2 3 6
6. 2 7. ±1, ±2, ±3, ±6, ± 5 , ± 5 , ± 5 , ± 5

8. p(x) = [x − (2 − 3i)][x − (2 + 3i)](x + 1)(x − 2)

88
9. x3 − 3x2 + 9x − 29 + x +3 10. 1.7263, −6.6524 11. 329°

12. (a) cos 6x (b) sin 55° (c) cos t 13. Convert left side to sin x and cos x only.

π π
14. period: 2 amplitude: none shift: 4 to the left − π4 π
4
• •
x

15. 3117.8 feet 16. Rectangle: Use the Pythagorean relationship because the triangle is a
right triangle.
Parallelogram: Has no right angle. Use Law of Sines or Law of Cosines.

17. 31.7°, 67.5°, 121.7°, 157.5°, 211.7°, 247.5°, 301.7°, 337.5° 18. 2781.2 sq. ft.

19. 18 (cos 135° + i sin 135°) 20. arithmetic sequence: Successive terms have a common difference.
Example: 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, ...
geometric sequence: Successive terms have a common ratio.
Example: 1, 3, 9, 27, ...

21. (a) −300 (b) 7.99 ≈ 8.00 22. 635,043,840x7y13