Exact trigonometric constants

Exact trigonometric constants

Exact constant expressions for trigonometric values are sometimes useful, mainly for simplifying solutions into radical forms which allow further simplification. All values of sine, cosine, and tangent of angles with 3 increments are derivable using identities: half-angle, double-angle, addition/subtraction and values for 0, 30, 36, and 45. Note that 1 = /180 radians. According to Niven's theorem, the only rational values of the sine function for which the argument is a rational number of degrees are0,1/2, and1.

Fermat number
This article is incomplete in at least two senses. First, it is always possible to apply a half-angle formula and find an exact expression for the cosine of one-half the The primary solution angles on the unit circle are at multiples of 30 and 45 degrees. smallest angle on the list. Second, this article exploits only the first two of five known Fermat primes: 3 and 5; and the trigonometric functions of other angles, such as 2/7, 2/9 (= 40), and 2/13 (as well as the other constructible polygons, 2/17, 2/257, or 2/65537) are soluble by radicals. In practice, all values of sine, cosine, and tangent not found in this article are approximated using the techniques described at Generating trigonometric tables.

Table of constants
Values outside the [0, 45] angle range are trivially derived from these values, using circle axis reflection symmetry. (See Trigonometric identity.)

0: fundamental

Exact trigonometric constants

3: 60-sided polygon

6: 30-sided polygon

9: 20-sided polygon

12: 15-sided polygon

Exact trigonometric constants

15: dodecagon

18: decagon

21: sum 9 + 12

22.5: octagon

Exact trigonometric constants

24: sum 12 + 12

27: sum 12 + 15

30: hexagon

33: sum 15 + 18

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36: pentagon

39: sum 18 + 21

42: sum 21 + 21

45: square

Exact trigonometric constants

60: triangle

where

is the golden ratio.

Notes
Uses for constants
As an example of the use of these constants, consider a dodecahedron with the following volume, where a is the length of an edge:

Using

this can be simplified to:

Derivation triangles
The derivation of sine, cosine, and tangent constants into radial forms is based upon the constructibility of right triangles. Here right triangles made from symmetry sections of regular polygons are used to calculate fundamental trigonometric ratios. Each right triangle represents three points in a regular polygon: a vertex, an edge center containing that vertex, and the polygon center. An n-gon can be divided into 2n right triangles with angles of {180/n, 90180/n, 90} degrees, for n in 3, 4, 5, ... Constructibility of 3, 4, 5, and 15-sided polygons are the basis, and angle bisectors allow multiples of two to also be derived. Constructible 32n-sided regular polygons, for n in 0, 1, 2, 3, ... 30-60-90 triangle: triangle (3-sided) 60-30-90 triangle: hexagon (6-sided) 75-15-90 triangle: dodecagon (12-sided) 82.5-7.5-90 triangle: icosikaitetragon (24-sided) 86.25-3.75-90 triangle: tetracontakaioctagon (48-sided)
Regular polygon (N-sided) and its fundamental right triangle. Angle: a=180/n

Exact trigonometric constants ... 42n-sided 45-45-90 triangle: square (4-sided) 67.5-22.5-90 triangle: octagon (8-sided) 78.75-11.25-90 triangle: hexakaidecagon (16-sided) ... 52n-sided 54-36-90 triangle: pentagon (5-sided) 72-18-90 triangle: decagon (10-sided) 81-9-90 triangle: icosagon (20-sided) 85.5-4.5-90 triangle: tetracontagon (40-sided) 87.75-2.25-90 triangle: octacontagon (80-sided) ... 152n-sided 78-12-90 triangle: pentakaidecagon (15-sided) 84-6-90 triangle: tricontagon (30-sided) 87-3-90 triangle: hexacontagon (60-sided) 88.5-1.5-90 triangle: hectoicosagon (120-sided) 89.25-0.75-90 triangle: dihectotetracontagon (240-sided) ... (Higher constructible regular polygons don't make whole degree angles: 17, 51, 85, 255, 257...) Nonconstructible (with whole or half degree angles) No finite radical expressions involving real numbers for these triangle edge ratios are possible, therefore its multiples of two are also not possible. 92n-sided 70-20-90 triangle: enneagon (9-sided) 80-10-90 triangle: octakaidecagon (18-sided) 85-5-90 triangle: triacontakaihexagon (36-sided) 87.5-2.5-90 triangle: heptacontakaidigon (72-sided) ... 452n-sided 86-4-90 triangle: tetracontakaipentagon (45-sided) 88-2-90 triangle: enneacontagon (90-sided) 89-1-90 triangle: hectaoctacontagon (180-sided) 89.5-0.5-90 triangle: trihectohexacontagon (360-sided) ...

Exact trigonometric constants

Calculated trigonometric values for sine and cosine

The trivial ones
In degree format: 0, 30, 45, 60, and 90 can be calculated from their triangles, using the Pythagorean theorem.

n /(5 2m)
Geometrical method Applying Ptolemy's theorem to the cyclic quadrilateral ABCD defined by four successive vertices of the pentagon, we can find that:

which is the reciprocal 1/ of the golden ratio. Crd is the Chord function,

Thus
Chord(36) = a/b = 1/f, from Ptolemy's theorem

(Alternatively, without using Ptolemy's theorem, label as X the intersection of AC and BD, and note by considering angles that triangle AXB is isosceles, so AX=AB=a. Triangles AXD and CXB are similar, because AD is parallel to BC. So XC=a(a/b). But AX+XC=AC, so a+a2/b=b. Solving this gives a/b=1/, as above). Similarly

so

Algebraic method The multiple angle formulas for functions of , where and

, can be solved for the functions of . The multiple angle formulas are: , . When or , we let . or

, since we know the function values of

and solve for

One solution is zero, and the resulting 4th degree equation can be solved as a quadratic in When or , we again let , which factors into: . or and solve for :

Exact trigonometric constants

n /20
9 is 45-36, and 27 is 4518; so we use the subtraction formulas for sine and cosine.

n /30
6 is 36-30, 12 is 3018, 24 is 5430, and 42 is 6018; so we use the subtraction formulas for sine and cosine.

n /60
3 is 1815, 21 is 3615, 33 is 18+15, and 39 is 5415, so we use the subtraction (or addition) formulas for sine and cosine.

Strategies for simplifying expressions

Rationalize the denominator
If the denominator is a square root, multiply the numerator and denominator by that radical. If the denominator is the sum or difference of two terms, multiply the numerator and denominator by the conjugate of the denominator. The conjugate is the identical, except the sign between the terms is changed. Sometimes you need to rationalize the denominator more than once.

Split a fraction in two

Sometimes it helps to split the fraction into the sum of two fractions and then simplify both separately.

Squaring and square rooting

If there is a complicated term, with only one kind of radical in a term, this plan may help. Square the term, combine like terms, and take the square root. This may leave a big radical with a smaller radical inside, but it is often better than the original.

Simplification of nested radical expressions

In general nested radicals cannot be reduced. But if for ,

is rational, and both

are rational, with the appropriate choice of the four signs, then

For example,

Exact trigonometric constants

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References
Weisstein, Eric W., "Constructible polygon [1]" from MathWorld. Weisstein, Eric W., "Trigonometry angles [2]" from MathWorld. /3 (60) [3] /6 (30) [4] /12 (15) [5] /24 (7.5) [6] /4 (45) [7] /8 (22.5) [8] /16 (11.25) [9] /32 (5.625) [10] /5 (36) [11] /10 (18) [12] /20 (9) [13] /7 [14] /14 /9 (20) [15] /18 (10) [16] /11 [17] /13 [18] /15 (12) [19] /30 (6) [20] /17 [21] /19 /23 [22] Bracken, Paul; Cizek, Jiri (2002). "Evaluation of quantum mechanical perturbation sums in terms of quadratic surds and their use in approximation of zeta(3)/pi^3". Int. J. Quantum Chemistry 90 (1): 4253. doi:10.1002/qua.1803. Conway, John H.; Radin, Charles; Radun, Lorenzo (1998). "On angles whose squared trigonometric functions are rational". arXiv:math-ph/9812019. Conway, John H.; Radin, Charles; Radun, Lorenzo (1999). "On angles whose squared trigonometric functions are rational". Disc. Comput. Geom. 22 (3): 321332. doi:10.1007/PL00009463. MR1706614. Girstmair, Kurt (1997). "Some linear relations between values of trigonometric functions at k*pi/n". Acta Arithmetica 81: 387398. MR1472818. Gurak, S. (2006). "On the minimal polynomial of gauss periods for prime powers". Mathematics of Computation 75 (256): 20212035. Bibcode2006MaCom..75.2021G. doi:10.1090/S0025-5718-06-01885-0. MR2240647. Servi, L. D. (2003). "Nested square roots of 2". Am. Math. Monthly 110 (4): 326330. doi:10.2307/3647881. JSTOR3647881. MR1984573.

External links
Constructible Regular Polygons [23] Naming polygons [24]

References
[1] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ ConstructiblePolygon. html [2] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAngles. html [3] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi3. html [4] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi6. html [5] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi12. html [6] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi24. html [7] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi4. html [8] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi8. html [9] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi16. html [10] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi32. html [11] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi5. html [12] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi10. html [13] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi20. html [14] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi7. html [15] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi9. html [16] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi18. html

Exact trigonometric constants

[17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi11. html http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi13. html http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi15. html http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi30. html http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi17. html http:/ / mathworld. wolfram. com/ TrigonometryAnglesPi23. html http:/ / mathforum. org/ dr. math/ faq/ formulas/ faq. regpoly. html http:/ / mathforum. org/ dr. math/ faq/ faq. polygon. names. html

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