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Identities
mc-TY-trigids-2009-1
In this unit we are going to look at trigonometric identities and how to use them to solve
trigonometric equations.
In order to master the techniques explained here it is vital that you undertake plenty of practice
exercises so that they become second nature.
After reading this text, and/or viewing the video tutorial on this topic, you should be able to:
Contents
1. Introduction 2
2. Some important identities derived from a right-angled triangle
sin2 A + cos2 A = 1 sec2 A = 1 + tan2 A cosec2A = 1 + cot2 A 2
3. Using the identities to solve equations 4
a c
A
b
Figure 1. A right-angled triangle.
Using Pythagoras’ theorem we know that
a2 + b2 = c2
Dividing through by c2 gives
a2 b2
+ =1
c2 c2
which we can rewrite as
a 2 2
b
+ =1 (1)
c c
From Figure 1 we also observe that
a b
sin A = cos A =
c c
and so, from Equation (1),
(sin A)2 + (cos A)2 = 1
that is
sin2 A + cos2 A = 1 (2)
Note that sin2 A is the commonly used notation for (sin A)2 . Likewise, cos2 A is the notation
used for (cos A)2 .
The mathematical expression in (2) is called an identity because it is true for all angles A, like
this, in a right-angled triangle. However, we could have done this for the definitions of sine and
cosine that come from a unit circle - in which case, this identity would be true for all angles A,
no matter what their size.
This result is a very important trigonometric identity.
From
sin2 A + cos2 A = 1
we can divide through by cos2 A to give
sin2 A cos2 A 1
+ =
cos A cos A
2 2 cos2 A
sin A 1 1
But = tan A and = sec A. (Note that the definition of the secant of A is ).
cos A cos A cos A
Hence
tan2 A + 1 = sec2 A
This is another important identity.
Key Point
tan2 A + 1 = sec2 A
sin2 A cos2 A 1
2 + 2 =
sin A sin A sin2 A
cos A 1
But = cot A and = cosecA.
sin A sin A
1
(Note that the definition of the cosecant of A is , and the definition of the cotangent of A
sin A
1 cos A
is = ). Hence
tan A sin A
1 + cot2 A = cosec2 A
Thus we have a third basic and fundamental identity.
π
3π 7π
1 π
4 4 2π x
–1
π 5π
4 4
Example
Suppose we wish to solve the equation
2 sin2 x + cos x = 1
2 sin2 x + cos x = 1
2(1 − cos2 x) + cos x = 1
2 − 2 cos2 x + cos x = 1
0 = 2 cos2 x − cos x − 1
0 = (2 cos x + 1)(cos x − 1)
Thus
2 cos x + 1 = 0 or cos x − 1 = 0
from which
1
cos x = − or cos x = 1
2
In order to determine the required values of x we consider the graph of cos x shown in Figure 3.
cos x 1
1
2 π 3π
2 2 2π
π 2π 4π x
3 3 3
-1
2
-1
π
0 π 2π x
2
-1
- 23
Figure 4. A graph of sin x showing that there are no values of x with sine equal to − 32 .
tan x = 1 or tan x = −1
The solutions of these equations can be obtained by referring to the graph of tan x shown in
Figure 5.
tan x
3π 7π
1 4 4 2π x
π 5π
–1 4 4
cos2 x − sin2 x = 0
This time we will make use of the identity sin2 x = 1 − cos2 x. Then
cos2 x − (1 − cos2 x) = 0
cos x
1
√1
2
π 3π 5π 3π
2 4 4 2 2π
π 7π
4 4
- √1
2
1
Exercises
1. In each question below you are given the quadrant an angle lies in and the value of one
trigonometric ratio. In each case you should find the value of a stated second trigonometric
ratio without finding the angle itself (i.e. without using inverse trigonometric functions).
Give answers to 3 decimal places.
Answers
1.
a) 0.954 b) 0.8 c) −2.236 d) 1.118
e) 3 f) -0.243 g) −0.204 h) -0.917
2.
π π
a) 3 solutions, 30o , 90o , 150o b) 2 solutions, − ,
4 4
c) 2 solutions, 18.43o , 68.20o d) 2 solutions, 71.57o , 108.43o
e) 4 solutions, −150o , −30o , 19.47o , 160.53o