C HAPTER

20

Trigonometric identities

20.1 Definition
Exercises 20.1
1

Solve the following equations and then state which one is an identity:
2
2
a (x
3)(x  2)  x  x
6
b (x
3)(x  2)  x
2x  3
2
2
c (x
3)(x  2)  x
2x
4
d (x
3)(x  2)  x
x
6

20.4 Summary: trigonometric

identities
Exercises 20.3
1

Simplify the following, expressing each as a single trigonometric ratio:

a sin 53 sec 53
b sec 17 cot 17
c cosec A  cot A
d sin  sec 
e cos A tan A
f
sec A  cosec A

Write down the missing trigonometrical ratios:

a cos 17 sec 73  . . . 17
b
c tan 69  cosec 69  . . . 21
d

Simplify:
2
a 2
2 sin C

Prove the following identities:

1
2
a 2  tan x
cosec x
1

tan2 K
sec2 K  1
b

(tan   1)2
sec2 

(1
sin2 x)(sec2 x
1)  sin2 x

1
1
1





 cos2 x
cos2 x
cot2 x
cosec2 x
Simplify, expressing each in terms of a single trigonometrical ratio, or as a constant:
sin 
1
cos2 
tan2 x  1
a 
b 
c 
2
2
sec  tan 
cos 
tan x
c

cos 40 cot 50  . . . 40
sin 34  cot 34  . . . 56

tan 

1
si
n2   sin 

Chapter 20 Trigonometric Identities

89

Exercises 20.4

sin 
Applications of tan   
cos 
1 If 7 sin t  8 cos t  C cos (t  ), then it may be shown that C sin 
7 and
C cos  8.
a Evaluate tan .
b Evaluate .
c Evaluate C.

Exercises 20.5
Applications of the Pythagorean identities
1

I
V

If an AC voltage, V, supplied to a circuit

produces a current I A, which lags the supply
voltage by angle
, then R  Z cos
and
X  Z sin , where R  and X  are the resistive
and reactive components of the impedance Z .

Show that Z2  R2  X2, and hence evaluate Z when R  645  and X  582 .
2

If 2 sin t  4 cos t  K cos (t  ), it may be shown that K sin 
2 and

K cos  5. Evaluate (K sin )2  (K cos )2 and hence:
a evaluate K
b evaluate (Note: sin is negative and cos is positive.)

20.5 Other trigonometric identities

There are many other identities that are useful when simplifying or otherwise manipulating
trigonometric expressions. Below is a list of 16 identities that you should be able to use.
Note: Unless you were using these formulae frequently, it would not be worthwhile trying to
memorise them, but you should be aware of their existence and be able to locate them and use
them when required. You will establish all these identities in the next set of exercises.

The addition formulae

90

sin (A  B)  sin A cos B  cos A sin B

sin (A
B)  sin A cos B
cos A sin B

cos (A  B)  cos A cos B
sin A sin B

cos (A
B)  cos A cos B  sin A sin B

tan A  tan B
tan (A  B)  
1
tan A tan B

tan A
tan B
tan (A
B)  
1  tan A tan B

CD Supplement to accompany Mathematics for Technicians

The double-angle formulae

7

sin 2A  2 sin A cos A

cos 2A  cos2 A
sin2 A (  1
2 sin2 A  2 cos2 A
1)

2 tan A
tan 2A  
1
tan2 A

The sum-to-product formulae

AB
A
B
2
2
AB
A
B
11 sin A
sin B  2 cos  sin 
2
2
AB
A
B
12 cos A  cos B  2 cos  cos 
2
2
AB
B
A
13 cos A
cos B  2 sin  sin 
2
2
10 sin A  sin B  2 sin  cos 

The product-to-sum formulae

1

14 sin A sin B  2 cos (A
B)
2 cos (A  B)

1

15 cos A cos B  2 cos (A
B)  2 cos (A  B)

1

16 sin A cos B  2 sin (A  B)  2 sin (A
B)

Note: Some of these formulae are so similar that special care is needed when copying one down.
Note especially the B
A term in identity 13 .

Exercises 20.6
1
2
3

Evaluate a if sin (x
30)  2 (a sin x
cos x).

x
x
Simplify sin  cos , given that sin 2  2 sin  cos .
2
2
Express cos 2A in terms of cos2 A. (Hint: Express cos 2A as cos (A  A).)

Given that sin 2A  2 sin A cos A and cos 2A  2 cos2 A
1, express sin 3A in terms of
sin A. (Hint: sin 3A  sin (2A  A).)

Simplify sin (A  B)
sin (A
B).

B is the angle shown in the diagram.

Evaluate sin B and cos B.

Evaluate the size of the angle B in degrees and minutes.

Using the results of a above, convert the expression

0.8 cos A  0.6 sin A into the form sin (A  ), where
is an angle in degrees and minutes.

Hence, solve the equation 0.8 cos A  0.6 sin A  0.5 for
0  A  360.

B
3

Chapter 20 Trigonometric Identities

91

Exercises 20.7
You have derived identity 4 in Exercises 20.6 in the text (p. 335), and by working through the
following exercises you will see how all the other identities in the list can be derived from that
one result.
1

Starting from identity 4 , prove identity 3 by substituting
B for B and remembering

that sin (
B) 
sin B, but cos (
B)  cos B.

Using identity 3 , prove identity 2 , commencing with the steps

sin (A
B)  cos [90
(A
B)]
 cos [(90
A)  B]
and then expanding this expression using identity 3 .

5
6

Starting from identity 2 , derive identity 1 by the same method that you used in
question 1 above.
sin (A  B)
tan (A  B)  . Expand the numerator and denominator (using identities 1
cos (A  B)
and 3 ) and then divide each by cos A cos B to obtain identity 5 .
In identity 1 , let B  A, and hence derive identity 7
1 :

sin (P  Q)  . . .

2 :

sin (P
Q)  . . .

1  2 :

...  ...

AB
A
B
Now let P  Q  A and P
Q  B. Show that   P and   Q.
2
2
Substitute for P and Q, hence obtaining identity 10 .
PQ
Q
P
From 13 : 2 sin  sin   cos P
cos Q
2
2
PQ
Q
P
1

sin  sin   2 (cos P
cos Q)
2
2
We now have an identity for the product of two sines.
PQ
Q
P
Let   A and   B
2
2

A  B  Q and A
B  P. Hence derive identity 14 .

Example
1

Expand sin (x 60)

sin (x
60)  sin x cos 60
cos x sin 60

3
1
 (sin x) (2)
(cos x) 
2



3
1
 2 sin x
 cos x
2

 

92

CD Supplement to accompany Mathematics for Technicians

Simplify sin (45
)
sin (45  )

Expression  (sin 45 cos   cos 45 sin )
(sin 45 cos 
cos 45 sin )
 2 cos 45 sin 
1
 2    sin 

2

2 sin 

tan x
tan y
sin (x
y)
Prove the identity   
1
tan x tan y
cos (x  y)
We expand the RHS to remove the brackets, and obtain:
sin x cos y  cos x sin y
sin (x  y)
  
cos x cos y
sin x sin y
cos (x
y)
sin x
sin y
  
cos x
cos y

Dividing numerator and denominator by cos x cos y
sin x sin y
1

cos x cos y
tan x  tan y
 
1
tan x tan y

Find the exact value of tan 
12

tan   tan 15  tan (45
30)
12
tan 45
tan 30
 
1  tan 45 tan 30

3 

1
... 

3  1
Express 3 cos x
2 sin x in the form A sin (x
) where A  0 and 0    180
A sin (x  )  A (sin x cos  cos x sin )
 (A cos ) sin x  (A sin ) cos x

A cos 
2
A sin  3

A  13

(by squaring each side of the simultaneous equations and then adding)

A 
13

A sin
3
tan   

A cos
2


56.3 or 123.7

2
3
But since A is to be positive and cos 
 and sin 

A
A

cos  0 and sin  0. Hence, is an angle in the second quadrant,
 123.7

3 cos x
2 sin x 
13
 sin (x  123.7)
(This result, like any other identity, can be verified by substituting any value you like to
choose for the variable and then evaluating each side of the equation using your calculator.)

Chapter 20 Trigonometric Identities

93

Simplify cos 9x cos 4x  sin 9x sin 4x

Checking through the list of identities, we see that this expression is in the form
cos A cos B  sin A sin B.

cos 9x cos 4x  sin 9x sin 4x  cos (9x
4x)
 cos 5x

Find the exact value of sin 75 cos 15

1

Value  2 sin (75  15)  2 sin (75
15) (from identity 16 )
1

 2 sin 90  2 sin 60


1
1
3
 (2) (1)  (2) 
2

3
1
 2  
4

 

2 
3

 
4

Exercises 20.8




Given that sin
sin   2 cos  sin , show that
2
2
AB
B
A
cos A
cos B  2 sin  sin .
2
2
(Hint: substitute  90
A and   90
B.)

Expand:
a cos (A  45)

sin 

3

Simplify:


a cos     sin   
3
6
c cos (30
x)
sin (60
x)

b
d

cos (
120)

cot A    tan A

4
4
sin (x  y) sin y  cos (x  y) cos y

Prove the identities:

a cos (
)
cos (  )  2 sin sin 
2
2
b sin (x  y) sin (x
y)  sin x
sin y
sin (x
y)
tan x
tan y

cos 
sin 
c   
d tan 
  
sin (x  y)
tan x  tan y
4
cos   sin 

b
a

h
x

94

tan x

4

If and  are any angles such that

  < 180, they may be placed in a triangle
as shown in the diagram.
Use the cosine rule to express cos (  ) in
terms of , , x, y and h. Hence prove that for
  < 180,
cos (  )  cos cos 
sin sin .

CD Supplement to accompany Mathematics for Technicians

Draw any triangle ABC in which B  90. Mark any point D on AB.
Label ACB  , DCB   and ACD  . Label the lengths of the intervals BC, BD
and DA with any numerical values you like to choose.
a By expanding tan (
), evaluate tan  without calculating the sizes of any angles.
b Use trigonometry to evaluate ,  and . Hence find tan  and check that your result is
the same as you obtained using the expansion of tan (
).

Express 4 sin t
3 cos t in the form A sin (t  ) where A  0 and 0   180.
State the value of correct to 2 decimal places.
(Hint: Study example 5 above.)

Study example 5 (p. 93) where it was proved that 3 cos x
2 sin x 
13
 sin
(x  123.7) and use this result to solve the equation 3 cos x
2 sin x  0.440,
evaluating x in degrees correct to 4 significant figures.
Solve the equation 21.8 sin x  14.3 cos x 
25.6, evaluating x in degrees correct to
4 significant figures.
E

B, C and D are marks on a vertical pole AE such that AB  BD  CD  DE.

P is a point on level ground such that the distance of P from the foot of the
pole is one-quarter the height of the pole AE.
CPD  .
a Without using a calculator find the exact value of tan . (Hint: Let
APC  and expand tan (  ).)
b Now check your value for tan  by using a calculator to find the sizes
of the angles and hence the value of tan .

Chapter 20 Trigonometric Identities

95