Formulas:

where A represents the angle of reference.

The formulas can be remembered by:
oh heck, another hour of algebra!
The formulas can be remembered by:
oscar had a heap of apples
There are many such memory tricks.


Basic Trigonometry Rules:
These formulas ONLY work in a right triangle.
The hypotenuse is always across from the right angle.
Questions usually ask for an answer to the nearest units.
You will need a scientific or graphing calculator.


How to set up and solve a trigonometry problem when solving for a
side of the triangle:
Example 1: In right triangle ABC, hypotenuse AB=15 and angle
A=35. Find leg length, BC, to the nearest tenth.


Set Up the Drawing:
1. Draw a picture depicting the situation.
2. Be sure to place the degrees INSIDE the
triangle.
3. Place a stick figure at the angle as a point of
reference.
4. Thinking of yourself as the stick figure, label
the opposite side (the side across from
you), the hypotenuse (across from the right
angle), and the adjacent side (the leftover
side).
5. Notice how the values on the sides of the
triangle "pair up". The h pairs with the 15,
the o pairs with the x, but the a stands
alone. The a has no companion term. This
means that the a is NOT involved in the
solution of this problem. Cross it out!
6. This problem deals with o and h which
means it is using sin A.






ANSWER: 8.6
Set Up the Formula:
1. Place the degrees in the formula for angle A.
2. Replace o and h with their companion
terms.
3. Using your scientific/graphing calculator,
determine the value of the left side of the
equation. (On most scientific calculators, press 35
first and then press the sin key. On most graphing
calculators, press the sin key first and the 35 second.)
4. Solve the equation algebraically. In this
case, cross multiply and solve for x. Or just
remember that if the x is on the top, you will
multiply to arrive at your answer. If x is on
the bottom, divide to arrive at your answer
(see next example).
5. Round answer to the desired value.









Example 2: In right triangle ABC, leg length BC=20 and angle
B = 41. Find hypotenuse length BA to the nearest hundredth.
Set up the diagram and the formula in the same manner as was done in Example 1. You
should arrive at the drawing and the formula shown here.





Hint: If you are having a problem solving the
equation algebraically, remember that when x is
on the bottom, you must divide to arrive at your
answer. The division is always "divide BY the
trig value decimal".
Hint: Be sure your answer MAKES
SENSE!!! The hypotenuse is always the
largest side in a right triangle. So, our
answer of 26.50 makes sense - it is bigger
than the leg of 20.

You really know a lot of facts about these triangles:

In this triangle, you were given the values
in black. You also know that the angle at B
is 68 because there are 180 in every triangle.
By repositioning your reference point, all of the
following are true.




TRIGONOMETRY OF RIGHT TRIANGLES
PLANE TRIGONOMETRY is based on the fact of similar figures. (Topic 1.)
We saw:
Figures are similar if they are equiangular
and the sides that make the equal angles
are proportional.
For triangles to be similar, however, it is sufficient that they be
equiangular. (Theorem 15 of "Some Theorems of Plane Geometry.") From
that it follows:
Right triangles will be similar if an acute angle of one
is equal to an acute angle of the other.

In the right triangles ABC, DEF, if the acute angle at B is equal to the
acute angle at E, then those triangles will be similar. Therefore the sides that
make the equal angles will be proportional. Whatever ratio CA has to AB,
FD will have to DE. If CA were half of AB, for example, then FD would
also be half of DE.
A trigonometric Table is a table of ratios of sides. In the Table, each
value of sin represents the ratio of the opposite side to the hypotenuse --
in every right triangle with that acute angle.
If angle is 28, say, then in every right triangle with a 28 angle,
itssides will be in the same ratio. We read in the Table,
sin 28 = .469
This means that in a right triangle having an acute angle of 28, its
opposite side is 469 thousandths of the hypotenuse, which is to say, a little
less than half.
It is in this sense that in a right triangle, the trigonometric ratios -- the
sine, the cosine, and so on -- are "functions" of the acute angle. They depend
only on the acute angle.
Example. Indirect measurement. When we cannot measure things
directly, we can use trigonometry.

For example, to measure the height h of a flagpole, we could measure a
distance of, say, 100 feet from its base. From that point P we could then
measure the angle required to sight the top . If that angle, called theangle of
elevation, turned out to be 37, then
so that
h
100
= tan 37
so that
so that h = 100 tan 37.
From the Table,
tan 37 = .754
Therefore, on multiplying by 100,
h = 75.4 feet.
(Lesson 4 of Arithmetic..)
All functions from one function
If we know the value of any one trigonometric function, then -- with the aid
of the Pythagorean theorem -- we can find the rest.
Example 1. In a right triangle, sin =
5
13
. Sketch the triangle, place
the ratio numbers, and evaluate the remaining functions of .


To find the unknown side x, we have
x
2
+ 5
2
= 13
2

x
2
= 169 25 = 144.
Therefore,
x = = 12.
(Lesson 26 of Algebra.)
We can now evaluate all six functions of :
sin =
5
13
csc =
13
5
cos =
12
13
sec =
13
12
tan =
5
12
cot =
12
5
Example 2. In a right triangle, sec = 4. Sketch the triangle, place the ratio
numbers, and evaluate the remaining functions of .

To say that sec = 4, is to say that the hypotenuse is
to the adjacent side in the ratio 4 : 1. (4 =
4
1
)
To find the unknown side x, we have
x
2
+ 1
2
= 4
2


x
2
= 16 1 = 15.
Therefore,
x = .
We can now evaluate all six functions of :
sin =

4
csc =
4

cos = 1 sec = 4
4
tan =

cot =
1

Problem 1. In a right triangle, cos =
2
5
. Sketch the triangle and
evaluate sin .
To see the answer, pass your mouse over the colored area.
To cover the answer again, click "Refresh" ("Reload").

Problem 2. cot = . Sketch the triangle and evaluate csc .

Complements
Two angles are called complements of one another if together they equal a
right angle. Thus the complement of 60 is 30. This is the degree system of
measurement in which a full circle, made up of four right angles at the center,
is called 360. (But see Topic 12: Radian Measure.)
Problem 3. Name the complement of each angle.
a) 70 20 b) 20 70 c) 45 45 d) 90


The point about complements is that, in a right triangle, the two acute angles
are complementary. For, the three angles of the right triangle are together
equal to two right angles (Theorem 9); therefore, the two acute angles together
will equal one right angle.
(When we come to radian measure, we will see that 90 =

2
, and
therefore the complement of is

2
.)
Cofunctions
There are three pairs of cofunctions:
The sine and the cosine
The secant and the cosecant
The tangent and the cotangent
Here is the significance of a cofunction:
A function of any angle is equal to the cofunction
of its complement.
This means, for example, that
sin 80 = cos 10.
The cofunction of the sine is the cosine. And 10 is the complement of
80.
Problem 4. Answer in terms of cofunctions.
a) cos 5 = sin 85 b) tan 60 = cot 30 c) csc 12 = sec 78
d) sin (90 ) = cos e) cot = tan (90 )


In the figure:
sin =
a
c
cos =
a
c
Thus the sine of is equal to the cosine of its complement.
sec =
c
b
csc =
c
b
The secant of is equal to the cosecant of its complement.
tan =
a
b
cot =
a
b
The tangent of is equal to the cotangent of its complement.