Introduction to Trigonometry

Introduction: Trigonometry is an important branch of Mathematics. The word Trigonometry has been derived from three Greek words Tri (Three), Goni (Angles), Metron (Measurement). Literally it means measurement of triangles The origin of trigonometry have benn traced back to the Egyptians of the 13 century B.C., whose tables of shadow lengths correspond to today's tangent and cotangent functions. The Babylonians and Greeks trigonometry to study of heavens. Travelers of recent centuries used trigonometry to navigate, and physicist use trigonometry to study sound, light, and other waves. TRIGONOMETRIC RATIOS The relationships between the angles and the sides of a right triangle are expressed in terms of TRIGONOMETRIC RATIOS. For example, in figure 19-7, the sides of the triangle are named in accordance with their relationship to angle . In trigonometry, angles are usually named by means of Greek letters. The Greek name of the symbol is theta. The six trigonometric ratios for the angle are listed in table 19-1. The-ratios are defined as follows:

Figure 19-1.-Relationship of sides and angles in a right triangle. (A) Names of the sides; (B) symbols used to designate the sides. Table 19-1.-Trigonometric ratios.

The other acute angle in figure 19-7 (B) is labeled (Greek alpha). The side opposite is x and the side adjacent to is y. Therefore the six ratios for are as follows:

Suppose that the sides of triangle (B) in figure 19-7 are as follows: x = 3, y.= 4, r = 5. Then each of the ratios for angles and may be expressed as a common fraction or as a decimal. For example,

Decimal values have been computed for ratios of angles between 0 and 90, and values for angles above 90" can be expressed in terms of these same values by means of conversion formulas. Appendix II of this training coursegives the sine, cosine, and tangent of angles from 0 to 90. The secant, cosecant, and cotangent are calculated, when needed, by using their relationships to the three principal ratios. These relationships are as follows:

Trigonometric Ratios of Some Specific Angles:

Method to find the sine of some specific angles (0, 30, 45, 60 & 90):

Table of Trigonometric Ratios of Some Specific Angles:

Remark: From the table, you can observe that as increases from 0 to 90, sin A increases from 0 to 1 and cos A decreases from 1 to 0.

Trigonometric Ratios of Complementary Angles: Two angles are complementary, if the sum of angles is 90.

In a right angled triangle, measure of one angle is 90 and sum of other two angles is also 90. So, these angles are complementary angles.

For any angle A, trigonometric ratios of complementary angle are:

Trigonometric Identities: An equation involving trigonometric ratios of an angle is called a trigonometric identity, if it is true for all values of the angle(s) involved.

For any angle