ALGEBRA 2 / TRIG Name: ____________________

Ms. Durand
Homework 16.04: Inverse Trig Functions

1. Find all angles on the interval [0, 2π) for which each equation is true. You may disregard the range
restrictions of the inverse trig functions. Give your answer in radian measure.
1
a. sin θ = − 2
b. cos θ = − 1 c. tan θ = undef ined

d. sec θ = 2 e. csc θ = √2 f. cot θ = − 1

2. Use a calculator to find each angle measure to the nearest ​degree.​

a. sin θ = 0.4848 b. cos θ = 0.6561 c. tan θ = 0.4750

d. sin θ = − 0.3042 e. cos θ = 0.8217 f. tan θ = 8.529

3. Find the exact value of each function without a calculator. Show each step. ​Hint: Start on the inside.
a. sin−1 (sin(π/4)) b. cos−1 (cos(π/6)) c. tan−1 (tan(π/3))

d. The pattern in #2 doesn’t always work. Why not?

continued on next page...

ALGEBRA 2 / TRIG Name: ____________________
Ms. Durand
4. Ms. Durand types sin−1 (1/2) into her calculator and gets 30 . But one of her students types the same
thing in and gets .5236 . Which one is correct? Explain.

5. Pinky was trying to solve the equation sin θ = √23 . He didn’t have his Unit Circle memorized, so he
wasn’t sure what angle he was looking for. He decided to divide both sides of the equation by sin so
he could isolate θ . The Brain just shook his head in disappointment and anger when he saw that.
a. Let’s try this again, since we didn’t do an awesome job answering this same question when it was in our
logarithms unit (refer to #14.01, question #4). Explain to Pinky under what circumstances you should be
dividing each side of an equation by something when trying to solve. AND YES WE ARE STILL TRYING TO
ISOLATE THE VARIABLE, θ , IN THIS EQUATION TOO. So tell me, please, when, ​more specifically​, we
should be using division to isolate the variable.

b. Use your Unit Circle to identify the angles for c. Rewrite the equation using inverse sine, then fill in
which this equation is true. You may disregard the the value of θ which is the correct solution (using the
range restriction of inverse sine. Give your answer in range restriction of inverse sine).
degrees.

6. In your own words, explain why the ranges of sin−1 and cos−1 are different.

OPTIONAL CHALLENGE: Is it always true that sin−1 (sin θ) = sin(sin−1 θ) ? Why or why not?

SELECTED ANSWERS: 1.a. 7π/6 & 11π/6 2.a. 29° 3.d. Hint: Pick an angle in QIII 4. Hint: Both are correct 5. PLZ DO BETTER K THX
ALGEBRA 2 / TRIG Name: ____________________
Ms. Durand
Classwork 16.04: Inverse Operations (AGAIN)

EQUATION HOW TO ISOLATE x

x + 5 = 10 What operation do you need to do to solve for x ?

3x = 21 What operation do you need to do to solve for x ?

x2 = 1600 What operation do you need to do to solve for x ?

3x = 27 What “operation” do you need to do to solve for x ?

sin x = 1 What “operation” do you need to do to solve for x ???

ALGEBRA 2 / TRIG Name: ____________________
Ms. Durand
Notes 16.04: Finding θ When It’s Not Given

Use your unit circle to find the angles that make the values true. Give your answers in radians.

sin θ 0 1 1/2 √2/2 √3/2

θ N/A

cos θ 0 1 1/2 √2/2 √3/2

θ N/A

tan θ 0 1 DNE √3 1/√3 (= √3/3)

If given an equation of the form sin θ = y where y is a number, we can solve for θ by rewriting the equation as
sin−1 y = θ . The same is true for cos θ = y and tan θ = y (and their respective reciprocal functions as well).

In other words... The input of a trig function is an _______________ and the output is a _______________,

whereas the input of an inverse trig function is a _______________ and the output is an _______________.

But as we’ve already seen, there are multiple answers! How do I know which one to choose?

sin−1 x has a domain of _______________ and a range of _______________

cos−1 x has a domain of _______________ and a range of _______________

tan−1 x has a domain of _______________ and a range of _______________

Note: If you use a calculator, it will ALWAYS follow these rules! You should too. Using this information, circle
each of the values that would be the correct ones at the top of your worksheet.

And remember, we use this to find the measure of an angle when we are given one of it’s trig values ( sin , cos ,
tan , csc , sec , or cot ). We do NOT use it to find the reciprocal trig functions ( 1/sin , 1/cos , 1/tan ) when we
already know the measure of the angle. Don’t mix these up… or else, scorn!