Trigonometric Identities

Right Triangle
The Trigonometric Identities are equations that are true for Right Angled Triangles.
Each side of a right triangle has a name:

Adjacent is always next to the angle

And Opposite is opposite the angle

We are soon going to be playing with all sorts of functions, but remember it all comes back
to that simple triangle with:
Angle
Hypotenuse
Adjacent
Opposite

Sine, Cosine and Tangent

The three main functions in trigonometry are Sine, Cosine and Tangent.
They are just the length of one side divided by another
For a right triangle with an angle :

Sine Function: sin() = Opposite / Hypotenuse

Cosine Function: cos() = Adjacent / Hypotenuse
Tangent Function: tan() = Opposite / Adjacent

Also, when we divide Sine by Cosine we get:

So we can say:

tan() = sin()/cos()
That is our first Trigonometric Identity.

Cosecant, Secant and Cotangent

We can also divide "the other way around" (such as Adjacent/Opposite instead
ofOpposite/Adjacent):

Cosecant Function: csc() = Hypotenuse / Opposite

Secant Function: sec() = Hypotenuse / Adjacent
Cotangent Function: cot() = Adjacent / Opposite

Example: when Opposite = 2 and Hypotenuse = 4 then

sin() = 2/4, and csc() = 4/2
Because of all that we can say:

sin() = 1/csc()
cos() = 1/sec()
tan() = 1/cot()
And the other way around:

csc() = 1/sin()
sec() = 1/cos()
cot() = 1/tan()
And we also have:

cot() = cos()/sin()

Pythagoras Theorem
For the next trigonometric identities we start with Pythagoras' Theorem:

The Pythagorean Theorem says that, in a right triangle, the

square of a plus the square of b is equal to the square of c:

a2 + b2 = c2

Dividing through by c2 gives

a2
c2

b2
+

c2

c2
=

c2

This can be simplified to:

Now, a/c is Opposite / Hypotenuse, which is sin()

And b/c is Adjacent / Hypotenuse, which is cos()
So (a/c)2 + (b/c)2 = 1 can also be written:

sin2 + cos2 = 1
Note:

sin2 means to find the sine of , then square the result, and

sin 2 means to square , then do the sine function

Example: 32
Using 4 decimal places only:

sin(32) = 0.5299...

cos(32) = 0.8480...

Now let's calculate sin2 + cos2 :

0.52992 + 0.84802
= 0.2808... + 0.7191...
= 0.9999...
We get very close to 1 using only 4 decimal places. Try it on your calculator, you might get
better results!
Related identities include:

sin2 = 1 cos2
cos2 = 1 sin2
tan2 + 1 = sec2
tan2 = sec2 1
cot2 + 1 = csc2
cot2 = csc2 1

How Do You Remember Them?

The identities mentioned so far can be remembered
using one clever diagram called the Magic Hexagon:

But Wait ... There is More!

There are many more identities ... here are some of the more useful ones:

Opposite Angle Identities

sin() = sin()
cos() = cos()
tan() = tan()

Double Angle Identities

Half Angle Identities

Note that "" means it may be either one, depending on the value of /2

Angle Sum and Difference Identities

Note that

means you can use plus or minus, and the

means to use the opposite sign.