3.

2 Sine, Cosine, Tangent

(and Cosecant, Secant, Cotangent)

PART ONE Opening

1. Think and Share:

opp
a. Identify the hyp ratios for and .

adj
b. Identify the ratios for and .
hyp

c. Describe the relationship between the ratios

for and .

PART TWO New, very important terms! (Take some good notes )

If is the angle measure of , as shown, then we define:

The sine of is the value of the ratio of the length of the opposite side to the length of
the hypotenuse. As a formula,
opp
sin = .
hyp

We also say sin = sin . Then, sin = .

1
 The cosine of is the value of the ratio of the length of the adjacent side to the length
of the hypotenuse. As a formula,
adj
cos = .
hyp

We also say cos = cos . Then, cos = .

The tangent of is the value of the ratio of the length of the opposite side to the length
of the adjacent side. As a formula,
opp
tan = .
adj

We also say tan = tan . Then, tan = .

There are still three possible combinations of quotients of the side lengths; we briefly
introduce them here.
The secant of is the value of the ratio of the length of the hypotenuse to the length of
the adjacent side. As a formula,
hyp
sec = .
adj
The cosecant of is the value of the ratio of the length of the hypotenuse to the length
of the opposite side. As a formula,
hyp
csc = .
opp
The cotangent of is the value of the ratio of the length of the adjacent side to the
length of the opposite side. As a formula,
adj
cot = .
opp
We have little need in this course for secant, cosecant, and cotangent because, given
any two sides, it is possible to write the quotient so as to get sine, cosine, and
tangent. In more advanced courses, secant, cosecant, and cotangent are more useful.

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PART THREE Working with Sine Cosine Tangent

Exercises 2-7: Extended Think-Pair-Share

2. In , = 53.2 and = 36.8. Complete the following table.

Measure of
Sine () Cosine () Tangent ( )
Angle
53.2

36.8

3. In the triangle below, = 33.7 and = 56.3. Complete the following table.

Measure of
Sine Cosine Tangent
Angle
33.7

56.3

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4. In the triangle below, let be the measure of and be the measure of .
Complete the following table.

Measure of
Sine Cosine Tangent
Angle

5. In the triangle below, let be the measure of and be the measure of .

Complete the following table.

Measure of
Sine Cosine Tangent
Angle

4
6. Tamer did not yet finish completing the table below for a diagram similar to the
previous problems that the teacher had on the board where was the measure of
and was the measure of . Use any patterns you notice from Exercises 14
to complete the table for Tamer.

Measure of
Sine Cosine Tangent
Angle
11 6 11
sin = cos = tan =
157 157 6

7. Explain how you were able to determine the sine, cosine, and tangent of in
Exercise 8.

PART FOUR Problem Set

8. Given the triangle in the diagram, complete the following table.

Angle

Measure

5
9. Given the table of values below (not in simplest radical form), label the sides and
angles in the right triangle.

Angle

Measure
4 26 4

210 210 26
26 4 26

210 210 4

10. Given sin and sin , complete the missing values in the table. You may draw a
diagram to help you.

Angle

Measure
2 5

33 33

11. Given the triangle shown to the right, fill in the missing
values in the table.

Angle

Measure

6
12. Federico thinks that if and are two different acute angle measures, then
sin sin . Do you agree or disagree? Explain.

13. Given the triangle in the diagram, complete the following

table.

Angle

Measure

Rewrite the values from the table in simplest terms.

Angle

Measure

Draw and label the sides and angles of a right triangle using the values of the
ratios sin and cos. How is the new triangle related to the original triangle?

14. Given tan and cos , in simplest terms, find the missing side lengths of the right
triangle if one leg of the triangle has a length of 4. Draw and label the sides and
angles of the right triangle.

Angle Measure

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15. Elena wants to hang a rope bridge over a small ravine so that it is easier to cross.
To hang the bridge, she needs to know how much rope is needed to span the
distance between two trees that are directly across from each other on either side
of the ravine. Help Elena devise a plan using sine, cosine, and tangent to
determine the approximate distance from tree A to tree B without having to cross
the ravine.

16. A fisherman is at point on the open sea and has three favorite fishing locations.
The locations are indicated by points , , and . The fisherman plans to sail from
to , then to , then to , and then back to . If the fisherman is 14 miles from
, find the total distance that he will sail.