Basic Functions

Most of the trigonometry on the Math IIC test has to do with the different parts of a right triangle
and the relationships among these different parts. The three basic trigonometric functionssine,
cosine, and tangentare the tools that define these connections. Given the measure of one of the
non-right angles in a right triangle, you can use these tools of trigonometry to find the shape of
the triangle. If you are given the measure of one of the non-right angles and one of the sides, you
can find all the values of the right triangle.

Basic Functions and the Right Triangle

If you know the measure of one non-right angle, the trigonometric functions tell you the ratio of
the lengths of any two sides of the right triangle.
In the right triangle below, the measure of one acute angle is labelled , and the sides of the
triangle are labelled hypotenuse, opposite, and adjacent, according to their position relative to
the angle of measure .

Sine
The sine of an angle is the ratio of the side opposite the angle over the hypotenuse.

Cosine
The cosine of an angle is the ratio of the side adjacent the angle over the hypotenuse.

Tangent
The sine of an angle is the ratio of the side opposite the angle over the side adjacent to the angle.

A handy way to remember these formulas is the acronym SOHCAHTOA. The S, C, and T
stand for the three different basic trigonometric functions, while the two letters after the S, C,
and T refer to the sides of the triangle that are being related by that function.
SOH: Sine is the side Opposite the angle divided by
the Hypotenuse.
CAH: Cosine is the side Adjacent to the angle divided by
the Hypotenuse.
TOA: Tangent is the side Opposite divided by the Adjacent
side.

Angles Larger Than 90 and the Basic Functions

Angles in a right triangle can never be larger than 90, since the sum of all three angles must
equal 180. But on the Math IIC you may occasionally run into angles that are larger than 90. It
is often more intuitive to think of these in terms of the coordinate plane rather than in terms of a
triangle.

Below are pictured four angles in the coordinate plane. The first is the acute angle weve already
covered in this chapter; the next three are all larger than 90.

The four quadrants of the coordinate plane become very important when dealing with angles that
are larger than 90. Each angle larger than 90 can be simplified by looking at it in the context
of its own quadrant. In the figure below, the four angles from the previous angle are defined in
terms of their own quadrants:

By reconsidering each angle based on its relationship to the x-axis, it becomes clear that each of
the original angles can be treated as a reoriented 30 angle. In other words, a 210 angle is just
the same as a 30 angle except that the 210 angle lives in the third quadrant. In terms of the
basic trigonometric functions, this means that the value of a 210 angle is the same as the value
of a 30 value, except that the sign of the trigonometric function differs based on the quadrant in
which the angle exists. Depending on the quadrant of the coordinate plane in which an angle
resides, the values of the trigonometric properties of that angle will be either positive or negative.
Below is a figure illustrating the signs of the trigonometric functions according to the quadrant in
which they lie.

Cosecant, Secant, and Cotangent

In addition to sine, cosine, and tangent, there are three other trigonometric functions you need to
know for the Math IIC: cosecant, secant, and cotangent. These functions are simply the
reciprocals of sine, cosine, and tangent.

Cosecant
Cosecant is the reciprocal of sine. Its formula is:

Secant
Secant is the reciprocal of cosine. Its formula is:

Cotangent
Cotangent is the reciprocal of tangent. Its formula is:

Solving Right Triangles

One of the most important applications of trigonometric functions is to solve a right triangle.
By now, you should know that every right triangle has five unknowns: the lengths of its three
sides and the measures of its two acute angles. Solving the triangle means finding the values of
these unknowns. You can use trigonometric functions to solve a right triangle if either of the
following sets of information is given:
1.
The length of one side and the measure of one acute angle
2.
The lengths of two sides

Given: One Angle and One Side

The right triangle below has an acute angle of 35 and a side of length 7.

To find the measure of the other acute angle, just subtract the measures of the other two angles
from 180:

To find the lengths of the other two sides, use trigonometric functions relating the given angle
measure to the given side length. The key to problems of this type is to choose the correct
trigonometric functions. In this question, you are given the measure of one angle and the length
of the side opposite that angle, and two trigonometric functions relate these quantities. Since you
know the length of the opposite side, the sine (opposite hypotenuse) will allow you to solve for
the length of the hypotenuse. Likewise, the tangent (opposite adjacent) will let you solve for the
length of the adjacent side.

Youll need your calculator to find sin 35 and tan 35. But the basic algebra of solving right
triangles is easy.

Given: Two Sides

The right triangle below has a leg of length 5 and a hypotenuse of length 8.

First, use the Pythagorean theorem to find the length of the third side:

Next, use trigonometric functions to solve for the acute angles:

Now you know that sin A = 5 / 8 , but you are looking to figure out the value of
, not sin A. To do
this, you need to use some standard algebra and isolate the angle. In other words, you have to
find the inverse sine of both sides of the equation sin A =5 / 8 . Luckily, your calculator has inverse
trigonometric function buttons labeled sin1, cos1, and tan1. These inverse trigonometric
functions are also referred to as arcsine, arccosine, and arctangent.
For this problem, use the sin1 button to calculate the inverse sine of 5 / 8 . Carrying out this
operation will tell you which angle between 0 and 90 has a sine of 5 / 8 .

You can solve for

by using the cos1 button and following the same steps. Try it out. You
should come up with a value of 51.3.

General Rules of Solving Right Triangles

Weve just shown you two of the different paths you can take when solving a right triangle. The
actual solution will depend on the specific problem, but the same three tools are always used:
1. The trigonometric functions
2. The Pythagorean theorem
3. The knowledge that the sum of the angles of a triangle is 180.
There is not necessarily a right way to solve a right triangle. One way that is usually wrong,
however, is solving for an angle or side in the first step, approximating that measurement, and
then using that approximation to finish solving the triangle. This approximation will lead to less
accurate answers, which in some cases might cause your answer not to match with the answer
choices.

Trigonometric Identities
A trigonometric identity is an equation involving trigonometric functions that holds true for all
angles. These identities are commonly called Pythagorean identities, because they come from the
Pythagorean theorem.

Other Trigonometric Identities

Sum and Difference Formulas
There are three identities for the sum of two angles:

There are also three identities for the difference of two angles:

The Unit Circle

The unit circle is a circle whose center is the origin and whose radius is 1. It is defined by the
equation x2 + y2 = 1.

The most useful and interesting property of the unit circle is that the coordinates of a given point
on the circle can be found using only the knowledge of the measure of the angle.

Any radius of the unit circle is the hypotenuse of a right triangle that has a (horizontal) leg of
length cos and a (vertical) leg of length sin . The angle is defined as the radius measured in
standard position. These relationships are easy to see using the trigonometric functions:

As you can see, because the radius of the unit circle is 1, the trigonometric functions sine and
cosine are simplified: sin = y and cos = x. This means that another way to write the

coordinates of a point (x, y) on the unit circle is (cos , sin ), where

angle in standard position whose terminal side contains the point.

is the measure of the

What are the coordinates of the point P pictured below?

Point P is the endpoint of a radius of the unit circle that forms a 30 angle with the negative xaxis. This means that an angle of 210 in standard position would terminate in the same position.
So, the coordinates of the point are (cos 210, sin 210) = ( / 2 , 1 / 2 ). Both coordinates must be
negative, since the point is in the third quadrant.

Range
The unit circle also provides a lot of information about the range of trigonometric functions and
the values of the functions at certain angles.
For example, because the unit circle has a radius of one and has points all of the form (cos ,
sin ), we know that:

Tangent ranges from to , but is undefined at every angle whose cosine is 0. Can you guess
why? Look at the formula of tan = sin / cos . If cos = 0, then division by 0 occurs, and the
quotient, tan , is undefined.

Radians and Degrees

Radians are another way to measure angles. Sometimes radians will be used in questions, and
other times you may choose to use them since they can sometimes be more convenient to use
than degrees. Radians will never appear on the Math IC test, but for the Math IIC, it is necessary
to know how to convert between radians and degrees.
A degree is equal to 1 / 3 6 0 of a circle, while a radian is equal to the angle that intercepts an arc of
the same length as the radius of the circle. In the figure below, arc AB has length r, and the
central angle measures one radian.

When converting between the two measurement systems, use the proportion:

which can be simplified down to:

To convert from degrees to radians: multiply the degree measure by / 1 8 0 . For example,
60 is equal to 6 0 / 1 8 0 = / 3 radians.
To convert from radians to degrees: multiply the degree measure by 1 8 0 / . For example, / 4 is
equal to 1 8 0 / 4 = 45.
Here are the most important angle measures in degrees and radians:

Graphing in the Entire Coordinate Plane

The functions sine, cosine, and tangent are commonly graphed in the coordinate plane,
with x representing the measure of an angle (the x units are usually given in radians)
and y measuring the value of a given trigonometric function at that angle. The best way to see
this is to study the graphs themselves. In the image below, (a) is the graph of y = sin x; (b) is y =
cos x; and (c) is y = tan x.

These graphs make evident a number of important characteristics of trigonometric functions.

Domain
The domain of a function is simply the x values for which the function can be calculated. In the
case of the trigonometric functions, the input is an angle measure, and the output is a ratio
(like o p p o s i t e / h y p o t e n u s e , for example).
The domain of a trigonometric function can be seen in its graph: it is the set of all xvalues for
which the function is defined. For sine and cosine, the domain is the set of real numbers, because
any angle measure has a sine and a cosine; there are no values of x for which sine or cosine
doesnt produce a y value.
The graph of the tangent function, however, tells a different story. It shows certain xvalues, for
which the tangent is undefined. These undefined points occur when the cosine is zero, since
tan x = sin x/ c o s x , and division by zero is undefined. The x-values for which tangent is undefined
show up on its graph as vertical dotted lines every 180, such that x = n(180) + 90, where n is
an integer. For example, the tangent function is undefined at the x value 2(180) + 90 = 450.

Range
Like the domain, the range of the trigonometric functions can be seen from their graphs. The
range of a function is the set of all possible values of the function. In other words, the range is the
set of all y values of the function.
The range of sine and cosine, as you can see in its graph or by analyzing the unit circle, is 1 y
1. The graphs of these two functions never rise above 1 or fall below 1 and every point on the
unit circle has a x and y value between 1 and 1. Occasionally, you may see a question in which
the answer choices are possible values of sine or cosine. If any of them are greater than 1 or less
than 1, you can eliminate them.
The range of tangent is the set of real numbers. To see why there are no bounds on the value of
tangent, recall that the denominator (cos ) can get arbitrarily close to zero, making the quotient
get infinitely large.

he chart below summarizes what has been discussed in the previous few paragraphs. We have
also included the ranges and domains of the other three trigonometric functions.

Periodic Functions
Sine, cosine, and tangent are all periodic functions, meaning that their values repeat on a regular
interval. This regular interval is called the functions period. Speaking more technically, the
period of a function is the smallest domain containing a full cycle of the function. Take a look at
the periods for sine, cosine, and tangent:

For y = sin x and y = cos x, the period is 2 radians. This means that every
360, the values of sine and cosine repeat themselves. For example, trigonometric
functions of 0 and 2 radians produce the same values.
For y = tan x, the period is radians. Thus, the tangents of 0 and 180 are
equal.
If a trigonometric function contains a coefficient in front of x, its period changes. In general, the
period of y = f(bx) is the normal period of f divided by b. For example, the period of y =
sin 1 / 4 x = 2 radians 1 / 4 = 8 radians.

Amplitude
Another useful property of the sine and cosine curves (not tangent, though) is amplitude. The
figure below shows the amplitude, a, for the sine and cosine functions:

The amplitude of the sine and cosine functions is half the vertical distance between its minimum
value and its maximum value. The amplitude of y = sin x and y = cos x is 1 because the minimum
and maximum values of these functions are 1 and 1, respectively, and half the vertical distance
between these values is 1. The tangent graph has no amplitude, because the tangent function has
no minimum or maximum value. In general, the amplitude of the trigonometric
function y = af(x) is |a|. The amplitude of 1 / 3 cos x is 1 / 3 .
Here is an example of the type of problem you might see concerning the graphs of the
trigonometric functions.
What is the period and amplitude of the function y = 4sin 3x?

As we just discussed, the period of y = f(bx) is the normal period of f divided by b. For the sine
function, the normal period is 360o. In this example, b = 3, so the period of this function is 360
3 = 120o. In general, the amplitude of the sine function y = af(x) is |a|. In this particular
case, a = 4. So, the amplitude is 4.

Heres another example problem:

What is the period and amplitude of the function graphed below?

To answer this question, you simply have to read the distances off the graph. The function, which
appears to be either a sine graph or a cosine graph, repeats itself every 180o. Its period is
therefore 180o. Its minimum and maximum values are 1 / 2 , so its amplitude is 1 / 2 .
To handle any question about the graphs of trigonometric functions, you should be able to
answer questions about period and amplitude based on the equation or graph of a given function.

Solving Non-Right Triangles

A non-right, or oblique, triangle has no right angles. Yet trigonometrya subject whose rules are
generally based on right trianglescan still be used to solve a non-right triangle. You need
different tools, though. Enter the laws of sines and cosines.
In an oblique triangle, there are six unknowns: the three angle measures and the three side
lengths. To solve an oblique triangle you need one of the following sets of information:
1. Two sides and an angle opposite one of the known sides
2. Two angles and any side
3. Two sides and their included angle
4. All three sides
If you know either (1) or (2), you can use the law of sines to solve the triangle. If you know (3) or
(4), you must tag-team with the law of cosines and then the law of sines to find the solution.

The Law of Sines

The law of sines is based on the proportionality of sides and angles in triangles. The law states
that for the angles of a non-right triangle, each angle of the triangle has the same ratio of angle
measure to sine value.

If you are given the lengths of two sides and the measure of an angle opposite one of those sides,
you can use the law of sines to find the other opposite angle. The measure of the third angle can
be easily found using the fact that the sum of the angles of a triangle is 180. Finally, you can use
the law of sines again to find the length of the unknown side. Heres an example:
In triangle ABC, a = 5, b = 6, and

= 65. Solve the triangle.

First, find

Next, find
180:

by plugging the values of a, b, and

into the law of sines:

. You can do this by using the rule that all interior angles of a triangle add up to

Last, find c by plugging in a, b, and

into the law of sines:

The triangle is solved.

The Law of Cosines

The law of cosines offers a different way of solving non-right triangles and can be used when you
dont have the information necessary to use the law of sines. This is the law of cosines:

If you look carefully at the law of cosines, you should see a resemblance to the Pythagorean
theorem. In fact, for right triangles, the law of cosines simplifies to the Pythagorean theorem. Try
it yourself. The last term drops out (since cos 90 = 0) and youre left with the familiar formula
of c2 = a2 + b2. If youre curious, the 2ab cos(C) term compensates for the lack of a right angle.
The law of cosines allows you to solve any triangle for which you know any three of the four
unknowns in the formula. There are two ways you might know three of the four unknowns:
1.
If you know two sides and their included angle, use the law of cosines to find
the length of the third side. Then use the law of sines to complete the triangle.
2.
If you know the lengths of all three sides, use the law of cosines to find the
measure of one angle. Then use the law of sines to complete the triangle.
Well just show one example problem, because using the law of cosines is basically just plugging
values into the formula and solving it.

Solve triangle ABC if a = 4, b = 7, and c = 10.

First, find

At this point, you can use the law of sines to find that A 18.20 and B 33.12.

Key Terms
SOHCAHTOA

Basic Trigonometric Identities

Pythagorean Identities

Double-Angle Identities

Half-Angle Identities

Sum and Difference Formulas

Law of Cosines

where a, b, and c are the lengths of the sides of a triangle and C is the measure of the angle
opposite side c.

Law of Sines

where a, b, and c are the lengths of the sides of a triangle and A, B, and C are the measures of the
angles opposite those sides.