Trigonometry Basics

Definition of Trigonometry: Trigonometry considers the properties of angles and certain ratios
associated with angles, and applies the knowledge of these properties to the solution of triangles and
various other algebraic and geometric problems. Incidentally trigonometry considers also certain
time-saving aids in computation such as logarithms, which are generally employed in the solution of
triangles. Briefly stated,

Trigonometry is the science of angular magnitudes and the art of applying the principles of this
science to the solution of problems.
The word Trigonometry comes from two Greek words, trigonon = triangle, and metron = measure.
The method was originated in the second century B.C. by Hipparchus and other early Greek
astronomers in their attempts to solve certain spherical triangles. The term trigonometry was not
used until the close of the sixteenth century.
Before we get into the basic definitions of Trigonometric Functions, let us look at the basic
definition of a function.

Definition of Function: When two variables are so related that the value of the one depends upon
the value of the other, the one is said to be a function of the other.

EXAMPLES: The area of a square is a function of its side.

The volume of a sphere is a function of its radius.
The velocity of a falling body is a function of the time elapsed since it began to fall.
The output of a factory is a function of the number of men employed.
In the expression y depends upon x for its value, hence y is a function of x.

Definition of Reciprocal: If the product of two quantities equals unity, each is said to be the
reciprocal of the other.

For example, if xy = 1, x is the reciprocal of y, and y is the reciprocalof x.

1/2 is the reciprocal of 2, and 2 is the reciprocal of 1/2, for 1/2X2=1.
In general, a/b and b/a are reciprocals since a/bxb/a=1 .
From xy = 1 it follows that x = 1/y, and y = 1/x, that is,
The reciprocal of any quantity is unity divided by that quantity.
Six Trigonometric Functions of an Acute Angle:
Let A be any acute angle, B any point on either
side of the angle, and ABC the right triangle
formed by drawing a perpendicular from B to
the other side of the angle. Denote AC, the side
adjacent to the angle A, by b (for base), BC, the
side opposite the angle A, by a (for altitude),
and the hypotenuse AB by h.

The three sides of the right triangle form six

different ratios, namely,

and their reciprocals

Since these ratios depend upon the angle for their values, they are the functions of the angle
according to the general definition of a function that we discussed at the beginning of our lesson.
Each of these functions has received a special name.

The six functions just defined are variously known as the trigonometric, circular, or goniometric
functions: trigonometric, because they form the basis of the science of trigonometry; circular,
because of their relations to the arc of a circle; goniometric, because of their use in determining
angles, from gonia, a Greek word meaning angle.

The terms sine of angle A, cosine of angle A, etc., are abbreviated to sin A, cos A, tan A, cosec A , sec
A , and cot A. The definitions of the first six trigonometric functions must be thoroughly
memorized. The first three are especially important and should be memorized.The remaining three
functions may be remembered most readily by the aid of the reciprocal relations, reciprocal
relations,

Sin A.Cosec A = 1
Cos A.Sec A = 1
Tan A.Cot A=1

It should be noticed that while a, b, and h are lines, the ratio of any two of them is an abstract
number; that is, the trigonometric functions are abstract numbers. Also, the expressions sin A cos
A, tan A etc., are single symbols which cannot be separated, sin has no meaning except as it is
associated with some angle.

EXAMPLE: The sides of a right triangle are 3, 4, 5. Find all the trigonometric functions of the
angle A opposite the side 4.
Solution: The hypotenuse of the triangle equals
5. Hence, applying the definitions, we have

Basic Identities

Phythagorean Identities Symmetry Properties

Graphs of the Six Trigonometric Functions

Advanced Questions on Trignometry Part - 1
Ques: 1 Prove that

First Solution: We will show that

Indeed, by the addition and subtraction formulas, we obtain

Second Solution: Note that by the addition and subtraction formula, we have
Hence and so

that is, , as desired.

Ques: 2 In triangle ABC, show that

Solution: By the extended law of sines, we have

Applying the double-angle formulas and sum-to-product formulas in the above relation gives

by noting that because

Note: By symmetry, we have analogous formulas

and

Ques: 3 Let for Prove that for all real

numbers x.
Solution: We need to show that

for all real numbers x. Indeed, the left-hand side is equal to

Ques: 4 A circle of radius 1 is randomly placed in a 15Ã-36 rectangleABCD so that the circle lies completely
within the rectangle. Compute the probability that the circle will not touch diagonal AC.

Note : In order for the circle to lie completely within the rectangle, the center of the circle must lie in a
rectangle that is (15-2)Ã-(36-2), or 13Ã-34. The requested probability is equal to the probability that the
distance from the circle's center to the diagonalAC is greater than 1, which equals the probability that the
distance from a randomly selected point in the 13 Ã- 34 rectangle to each side of triangles ABC and CDA is
greater than 1. Let |AB| = 36 and |BC| = 15 (and so |AC| = 39). Drawthree segments that are 1 unit away from
each side of triangle ABC and whose endpoints are on the sides. Let E,F, and Gbe the three points of
intersection nearest to A,B, and C, respectively, of the three segments. Because the corresponding sides of
triangle ABC and EFG are parallel, the two triangles are similar to each other. The desired probability is
equal to

Because E is equidistant from sides AB and AC, E

lies on the bisector of Similarly, F and G lie
on the bisectors of and
respectively. Hence lines AE, BF and CG meet I , the
in center of triangle ABC.

First Solution: Let and be the feet of the perpendiculars from E and F to segment AB, respectively.
Then It is not difficult to see that Set
Then and By either the double-angle formulas or
the half-angle formulas,

or

and we obtain It follows that or Consequently,

Hence and
Second Solution: Set and Because E lies on the angle bisector of
has the same slope as that is, the slope of line AE is Consequently,
and the rest of the solution proceeds like that of the first solution.

Third Solution: Because the corresponding sides of triangles ABC and EFG are parallel, it follows that I is
also the incenter of triangle EFG and that the triangles are homothetic (with I as the center). If r is the
inradius of triangle ABC, then r âˆ' 1 is the inradius of triangle EFG; that is, the ratio of the similarity
between triangles EFG and ABC is Hence the desired probability is

Note that

Solving the last equation gives r = 6, and so

Ques: 5 Prove that for all where k is in Z.
Solution: The equality is equivalent to

or

That is, which is evident.

Note: More generally, if are real numbers different from where k is in Z, such that
then the relation
holds.
Ques: 6 Let a, b, c, d be numbers in the interval such that

Prove that
Solution: Rewrite the two given equalities as

By squaring the last two equalities and adding them, we obtain

and the conclusion
follows from the addition formulas.
Ques: 7 Express as a monomial.
Solution: By the sum-to-product formulas, we have

By the double-angle formulas, we have

Thus

by the sum-to-product formulas.

Note: In exactly the sameway, we can showthat if a, b, and c are real numbers with a + b + c = 0, then

In this question, we have and

Ques: 8 Prove that
Solution: We have so for all
Thus
as desired.

Ques: 9 Prove that

for all real numbers with and
Solution: Expanding both sides, the desired inequality becomes

By the arithmetic-geometric means inequality, we obtain

By the double-angle formulas, we have and so

and

Combining the last three inequalities gives the the desired result.
Ques: 10 In triangle ABC, Prove that

Solution: Without loss of generality, we assume that We need to prove that The
law of sines and the triangle inequality imply that so
It follows that and the inequality gives
that that is, as desired.
Ques: 11 Let ABC be a triangle. Prove that

Solution: By the addition and subtraction formulas, we have

Because and so

Thus
as desired.

Note: An equivalent form of this equation is:

Ques: 12 Let ABC be a triangle. Prove that

Solution: By the arithmetic-geometric means inequality, we have

from which follows the desired equation.

Ques: 13 Let ABC be an acute-angled triangle. Prove that

Solution: Note that because of the condition all the above expressions are well defined.

The proof of the identity in part (1) is similar to that of Question 11. By the arithmetic-geometric means
inequality,

By (1), we have

from which follows equation (2)

Note: Indeed, the identity in (1) holds for all angles with and
where k and m are in Z.
Ques: 14 Let ABC be a triangle. Prove that

Conversely, prove that if are real numbers with then there exists a triangle ABC
such that and
Solution: If ABC is a right triangle, then without loss of generality, assume that Then
and and so implying the desired result.

If then is well defined. Multiplying both sides of the desired identity

by reduces the desired result to Question 13(1).

The second claim is true because is a bijective function from the interval to
Ques: 15 Let ABC be a triangle. Prove that
Conversely, prove that if x, y, z are positive real numbers such that

then there is a triangle ABC such that and

Solution: Solving the second given equation as a quadratic in x gives

We make the trigonometric substitution and where Then

Set and

Because

Because

implying that or
Then and where A, B and C are the angles of a
triangle.

If ABC is a triangle, all the above steps can be reversed to obtain the first given identity
Ques: 16 Let ABC be a triangle. Prove that

Solution: By Question 2, we have

The arithmetic-geometric means inequality yields

Combining the last two equalities gives part (a).

Part (b) then follows from (a) and Question 15. Part (c ) then follows from part (b) by noting that
 Finally, by (c ) and by the arithmetic- geometric means inequality, we have

implying (d).

Again by Question 2, we have

and analogous formulas for and . Then part (e) follows routinely from the arithmetic-geometric
means inequality.

Note: We present another approach to part (a). Note that are all positive. Let

It suffices to show that By the arithmetic-geometric means inequality, we

have

By Question 15, we have Thus,

Consequently, establishing (a).

Ques: 17 In triangle ABC, show that

Conversely, if x, y, z are positive real numbers such that show that there is an
acute triangle ABC such that
Solution: Parts (c.) and (d) follow immediately from (b) because
Thus we show only (a) and (b).

(a) Applying the sum-to-product formulas and the fact that we find that
establishing (a).

(b) By the sum-to-product formulas, we have

because

Note that It suffices to show that

or which is evident by the sum-to-product

formula

From the given equality, we have and thus we may set where
Because is an increasing function of z, there is at most one non-
negative value c such that the given equality holds. We know that one solution to this equality is
where Because we know that
Because we have implying that Thus,
and Therefore, we must have as desired.

Nevertheless, we present a cool proof of part (d). Consider the system of equations

Using the addition and subtraction formulas, one can easily see that is a
nontrivial solution. Hence the determinant of the system is 0; that is,

as desired.
Ques: 18 In triangle ABC, show that
Solution: By the extended law of sines,

establishing (a).

By the same token, we have

which is (b).

Note that:

By the extended law of sines, we obtain

from which (c ) follows.

By the law of cosines,

Hence, by the half-angle formulas, we have

where 2s = a + b + c is the perimeter of triangle ABC. It follows that

and the analogous formulas for and Hence

by Heron's formula. It follows that

from which (d) follows.

Now we prove (e). By the extended law of sines, we have a

Likewise, and

By (a) and (b), we have

It suffices to show that

which is Question 17(a).

Ques: 19 Let s be the semiperimeter of triangle ABC. Prove that

Solution: It is well known that or

By Question 18 (b) and (d), part (a) follows from

by the double-angle formulas.

We conclude part (b) from (a) and Question 16 (d).
Ques: 20 In triangle ABC, show that

Solution: By the sum-to-product and the double-angle formulas, we have

and

It suffices to show that

or,

which follows from the sum-to-product formulas, and hence (a) is established. Recalling Question 18 (c.), we
have
Euler's formula states that where O and I are the circumcenter and incenter of
triangle ABC. Because we have or from which (b) follows.

Note: Relation (âˆ-) also has a geometric interpretation.

As shown in the Figure, let O be the circumcenter,

and let be the feet of the perpendiculars
from O to sides BC,CA,AB, respectively. (Thus
are the midpoints of sides BC,CA,AB,
respectively.) Because and triangle
AOB is isosceles with we have
Likewise,
and

It suffices to show that

Note that

and

Hence

Let s denote the semiperimeter of triangleABC.Applying Ptolemy's theorem to cyclic quadrilaterals

yields

Adding the above gives

from which our desired result follows.

Ques: 21 Let ABC be a triangle. Prove that

Solution: For part (a), if triangle ABC is non-acute, the left-hand side of the inequality is nonpositive, and so
the inequality is clearly true.

If ABC is acute, then are all positive. To establish (a) and (d), we need only note that
the relation between (a) and (d) and Question 17 (d) is similar to that of Question 16 (a) and (b) and Question
15. (Please see the note after the solution of Question 16.)

The two inequalities in parts (d) and (e) are equivalent because

By (e) and by the arithmetic-geometric means inequality, we have

from which (b) follows.

From or by application of Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, we can show

that By (e) and by setting we obtain
(c.)

Part (f) follows from (e) and Finally, (g) follows from (b) and the identity

proved in Question 18(e).

Ques: 22 Prove that

for all where k is in Z.

Solution: From the triple-angle formulas, we have
for all where k is in Z.

Ques: 23 [AMC12P 2002] Given that

find n.
First Solution: Note that

Hence

It follows that

implying that n = 23.

Second Solution: Note that

Hence

implying that n = 23.

Ques: 24 [AIME 2003] Let and be points in the coordinate plane. Let ABCDEF be a
convex equilateral hexagon such that and and the y
coordinates of its vertices are distinct elements of the set The area of the hexagon can be
written in the form where m and n are positive integers and n is not divisible by the square of any
prime. Find
Note: Without loss of generality, we assume that b > 0. (Otherwise, we can reflect the hexagon across the y
axis.) Let the x coordinates of C,D,E, and F be c, d, e, and f , respectively. Note that the y coordinate of C is
not 4, since if it were, the fact |AB| = |BC| would imply that A,B, and C are collinear or that c = 0, implying
that ABCDEF is concave. Therefore, F = (f, 4). Since and and so
Because the y coordinates of B,C, and D are 2, 6, and 10, respectively, and |BC| = |CD|, we
conclude that b = d. Since Let a denote the side length of the hexagon. Then f < 0. We
need to compute

Solution:

First Solution: Note that Note that Apply the law of cosines
in triangle ABF to obtain We have three independent equations in three
variables. Hence we can solve this system of equations. The quickest way is to note that

implying that

Squaring both sides gives

or Hence and so and

Therefore, and the answer to the problem is 51.
Second Solution: Let denote the measure (in degrees) of the standard angle formed by the line AB and and
the x axis. Then the standard angle formed by the line AF and the x axis is By considering
the y coordinates of B and F, we have and

by the addition and subtraction formulas.

Hence Thus, by considering the x coordinates of B and F, we have

and

It follows that

Note: The vertices of the hexagon are

and

Ques: 25 Show that one can use a composition of trigonometry buttons such as,
and to replace the broken reciprocal button on a calculator.
Solution: Because

and

for

we have for any x >0,

as desired. It is not difficult to check that will also do the trick.

Ques: 26 Prove that in a triangle ABC,

Solution: From the law of sines and the sum-to-product formulas, we have
as desired.

Ques: 27 Let a, b, c be real numbers, all different from âˆ'1 and 1, such that a +b+c = abc. Prove that

Solution: Let where for all integers k. The condition a + b

+ c = abc translates to tan(x + y + z) = 0, as indicated in notes after Question 13(1). From the double-angle
formulas, it follows that

Hence

using a similar argument to the one in Question 13(1). This implies that

and the conclusion follows.

Ques: 28 Prove that a triangle ABC is isosceles if and only if

Solution: By the extended law of sines, a = 2R sin A, b = 2R sin B, and c = 2R sin C. The desired identity is
equivalent to

or

Because

The last equality simplifies to

which in turn is equivalent to

by Question 7. The conclusion now follows.

Ques: 29 Prove that is an irrational number.

Solution: Assume, for the sake of contradiction, that is rational. Then so is
Using the identity

we obtain by strong induction that is rational for all integers But this is clearly false, because,
for example, is not rational, yielding a contradiction.

Note: For the reader not familiar with the idea of induction. We can reason in the following way. Under the
assumption that both and are rational, relation (âˆ-) implies that is rational, by setting n
= 2 in the relation (âˆ-). Similarly, by the assumption that both and are rational, relation (âˆ-)
implies that is rational, by setting n = 4 in the relation (âˆ-). And so on.We conclude that is
rational, for all positive integers n, under the assumption that is rational.

Ques: 30 Prove that for all

Solution: Multiplying the two sides of the inequality by

we obtain the equivalent form

But this follows from Cauchy-Schwarz inequality because according to this inequality, the left-hand side is
greater than or equal to

Ques: 31 If what are the possible values of ?

Solution: Note that

Because it follows that Similarly, because

we conclude that Combining the above results shows that

But we have not shown that indeed, can obtain all values in the interval To do this, we
consider
Let and Then and Consider the range of the sum
If and then x and y are the roots of the quadratic
equation

Thus,

By checking the boundary condition

we obtain By checking similar boundary conditions, we conclude that the equation (âˆ-)
has a pair of solutions x and y with for all Because both the sine and cosine functions
are surjective functions from R to the interval [-1,1], the range of is for
. Thus, the range of is . Thus the range of is , and so the
reange of is
Ques: 32 Let a, b, c be real numbers. Prove that

Solution: Let a = tan x, b = tan y, c = tan z with

Then and

Multiplying by on both sides of the desired inequality gives

Note that

and

Consequently, we obtain
as desired.

Ques: 33 Prove that

Solution: If cos x = 0, the desired inequality reduces to which is clearly true. We

assume that Dividing both sides of the desired inequality by gives

Set t = tan x. Then The above inequality reduces to

or

The last inequality is equivalent to

which is evident.

Ques: 34 Prove that

Solution: We proceed by induction on n. The base case holds, because

For the inductive step, in order to prove that

it suffices to show that

for all real numbers Let For k = 1,2,.....n+1. The last
inequality becomes Indeed by the addition and subtraction formulas,
we have

as desired
Ques: 35 [Russia 2003, by Nazar Agakhanov] Find all angles α for which the three element set

is equal to the set

.
Solution: The answers are for all intergers k

Because S = T, the sums of the elements in S and T are equal to each other that is,

Applying the sum-to-product formulas to the first and the third summands on each side of the last equation
gives

or

if then , and so for all intergers k. It is then not difficult to

check that and both of S and T are not three-elements sets.

It follows that , implying that ;that is, . The possible answers

are for all intergers k. Because It not difficult to check that all
such angles satisfy the conditions of the problem.

Ques: 36 Let be the sequence of polynomials such that

for all positive integers i. The polynomial is
called the nth Chebyshev polynomial.

(a) Prove that and are odd and even functions,respectively;

(b) Prove that for real numbers x with x > 1;
(c) Prove that for all nonegative intergers n;
(d) Determine all the roots of ;
(e) Determine all the roots of

Solution: Parts (a) and (b) are simple facts that will be useful in establishing (e).We present them together.
(a). We apply strong induction on n. Note that and are even and odd, respectively. Assume
that and are odd and even, respectively. Then is odd, and so is
odd. Thus is even, and so is even. This completes our induction.
(b). We apply strong induction on n.For for x > 1. Assume that
for x > 1 and where k is some nonnegative integer. For n = k + 1, the induction
hypothesis yields

completing our induction.