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TrigonometricfunctionsWikipedia

Trigonometricfunctions
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Inmathematics,thetrigonometricfunctions(alsocalledthecircular
functions)arefunctionsofanangle.Theyrelatetheanglesofatriangle
tothelengthsofitssides.Trigonometricfunctionsareimportantinthe
studyoftrianglesandmodelingperiodicphenomena,amongmanyother
applications.
Themostfamiliartrigonometricfunctionsarethesine,cosine,and
tangent.Inthecontextofthestandardunitcircle(acirclewithradius1
unit),whereatriangleisformedbyaraystartingattheoriginand
makingsomeanglewiththexaxis,thesineoftheanglegivesthelength
oftheycomponent(theoppositetotheangleortherise)ofthetriangle,
thecosinegivesthelengthofthexcomponent(theadjacentoftheangle
ortherun),andthetangentfunctiongivestheslope(ycomponent
dividedbythexcomponent).Moreprecisedefinitionsaredetailed
below.Trigonometricfunctionsarecommonlydefinedasratiosoftwo
sidesofarighttrianglecontainingtheangle,andcanequivalentlybe
definedasthelengthsofvariouslinesegmentsfromaunitcircle.More
moderndefinitionsexpressthemasinfiniteseriesorassolutionsof
certaindifferentialequations,allowingtheirextensiontoarbitrary
positiveandnegativevaluesandeventocomplexnumbers.

Baseoftrigonometry:iftworighttriangleshave
equalacuteangles,theyaresimilar,sotheirside
lengthsareproportional.Proportionalityconstants
arewrittenwithintheimage: sin, cos, tan,
where isthecommonmeasureoffiveacute
angles.

Trigonometricfunctionshaveawiderangeofusesincludingcomputing
unknownlengthsandanglesintriangles(oftenrighttriangles).Inthis
use,trigonometricfunctionsareused,forinstance,innavigation,
engineering,andphysics.Acommonuseinelementaryphysicsis
resolvingavectorintoCartesiancoordinates.Thesineandcosinefunctionsarealsocommonlyusedtomodelperiodic
functionphenomenasuchassoundandlightwaves,thepositionandvelocityofharmonicoscillators,sunlightintensityand
daylength,andaveragetemperaturevariationsthroughtheyear.
Inmodernusage,therearesixbasictrigonometricfunctions,tabulatedherewithequationsthatrelatethemtooneanother.
Especiallywiththelastfour,theserelationsareoftentakenasthedefinitionsofthosefunctions,butonecandefinethem
equallywellgeometrically,orbyothermeans,andthenderivetheserelations.

Contents
1 Rightangledtriangledefinitions
1.1 Sine,cosineandtangent
1.2 Reciprocalfunctions
1.3 Slopedefinitions
2 Unitcircledefinitions
3 Algebraicvalues
3.1 Explicitvalues
4 Seriesdefinitions
4.1 Tangent
4.2 Cosecant
4.3 Secant
4.4 Cotangent
4.5 Relationshiptoexponentialfunctionandcomplexnumbers
4.5.1 Complexgraphs
5 Definitionsviadifferentialequations
5.1 Thesignificanceofradians
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TrigonometricfunctionsWikipedia

6 Identities
6.1 Calculus
6.2 Definitionsusingfunctionalequations
7 Computation
7.1 Specialvaluesintrigonometricfunctions
8 Inversefunctions
8.1 Connectiontotheinnerproduct
9 Propertiesandapplications
9.1 Lawofsines
9.2 Lawofcosines
9.3 Lawoftangents
9.4 Lawofcotangents
9.5 Periodicfunctions
10 History
11 Etymology
12 Seealso
13 Notes
14 References
15 Externallinks

Rightangledtriangledefinitions
Thenotionthatthereshouldbesomestandardcorrespondencebetweenthelengthsofthe
sidesofatriangleandtheanglesofthetrianglecomesassoonasonerecognizesthat
similartrianglesmaintainthesameratiosbetweentheirsides.Thatis,foranysimilar
triangletheratioofthehypotenuse(forexample)andanotherofthesidesremainsthe
same.Ifthehypotenuseistwiceaslong,soarethesides.Itistheseratiosthatthe
trigonometricfunctionsexpress.
TodefinethetrigonometricfunctionsfortheangleA,startwithanyrighttrianglethat
containstheangleA.Thethreesidesofthetrianglearenamedasfollows:
Thehypotenuseisthesideoppositetherightangle,inthiscasesideh.The
hypotenuseisalwaysthelongestsideofarightangledtriangle.
Theoppositesideisthesideoppositetotheangleweareinterestedin(angleA),inthiscasesidea.
Theadjacentsideisthesidehavingboththeanglesofinterest(angleAandrightangleC),inthiscasesideb.
InordinaryEuclideangeometry,accordingtothetrianglepostulate,theinsideanglesofeverytriangletotal180(radians).
Therefore,inarightangledtriangle,thetwononrightanglestotal90( radians),soeachoftheseanglesmustbeinthe
2

rangeof(0,90)asexpressedinintervalnotation.Thefollowingdefinitionsapplytoanglesinthis090range.They
canbeextendedtothefullsetofrealargumentsbyusingtheunitcircle,orbyrequiringcertainsymmetriesandthattheybe
periodicfunctions.Forexample,thefigureshowssin()forangles,,+,and2depictedontheunitcircle
(top)andasagraph(bottom).Thevalueofthesinerepeatsitselfapartfromsigninallfourquadrants,andiftherangeof
isextendedtoadditionalrotations,thisbehaviorrepeatsperiodicallywithaperiod2.
Thetrigonometricfunctionsaresummarizedinthefollowingtableanddescribedinmoredetailbelow.Theangleisthe
anglebetweenthehypotenuseandtheadjacentlinetheangleatAintheaccompanyingdiagram.

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