MATH1031 Mathematics for Life Sciences

Term 3, 2021

Trigonometry

Dr. Joshua Capel

Red Centre Room 5107

Based on the slides provided by Dr. Chi Mak

School of Mathematics and Statistics

University of New South Wales
j.capel@unsw.edu.au

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Trigonometry

This lecture we will review some basic ideas about trigonometry – the
study of triangles and their applications.

Definitions
Useful results
Periodicity
Useful relations
Sketching graphs

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Definitions

For an acute angle θ, we define sine, cosine and tangent by a right angled
triangle.
opposite
opposite
sin θ =
hypotenuse hypotenuse
adjacent
θ cos θ =
adjacent hypotenuse
opposite sin θ
tan θ = =
adjacent cos θ
Furthermore,
1
sec θ =
cos θ
1
cosec θ =
sin θ
1
cot θ =
tan θ
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Definitions

For an angle of any magnitude, we treat the angle θ as a rotation in the

anti-clockwise direction starting from the postive horizontal axis.

(x, y )
b
y = sin θ
1 θ
1 x = cos θ 1

−1

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Example – estimating height

A botanist wants to know the height of a tree. They have a tape measure
and a sighting compass that can measure angles, but no climbing gear.

How can they measure the height?

They can measure:
how many metres they are from the base of the tree (x).
the angle from their position to the top of the tree (θ).

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Example – estimating height

So they can work out the height:

height
tan θ =
x
height = x tan θ

If they were 30m away from the tree, and measured the angle as 59◦ , what
was the height?

height = 30 × tan(59◦ ) = 49.9 metres.

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Example – estimating height

Actually, it’s a little bit more complicated than that:

x
the angle was measured from eye-level not ground level
x we want the distance to the centre of the tree, not to the trunk

T
hp
r x

To work out the distance to the centre of the tree we need to know the
radius of the trunk, which can be found by measuring the circumference.

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Example – estimating height
Recall the circumference of a circle of radius r is c = 2πr .

Thus the total distance from their position to the centre of the tree is
d = x + r.

We can measure the angle from their position to the top of the tree (θ), so
we can work out h:
h h
tan θ = =
d x +r
h = (x + r ) tan θ

The total height of the tree is their height, hp , plus the measured height h:

Height = hp + h.

(Actually hp should be the height to the eye of the observer.)

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Example – estimating height

So if:
the measurer stands 30m from the tree,
the measured angle is 59◦ ,
the person taking measurements has height (to eye-level) 1.65m, and
the tree has circumference 1.85m,
what is the height of the tree?

Using the notation on the previous pages, we have x = 30, θ = 59◦ ,

c = 1.85, hp = 1.65. Hence

1.85
r = ≈ 0.294
2π
h = (30 + 0.294) tan(59◦ ) = 50.42
Height = 1.65 + 50.42 = 52.07 metres

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Radians

The two most commonly used measures for angles are degrees and radians.

The radian is defined as the ratio of the length of an arc on a circle to the
s
length of the radius of the circle: θ = :
r
s

r θ

Going right around the circle, the entire circumference is s = 2πr

equivalent to
2πr
θ= = 2π radians.
r

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Why use radians?

One reason to use radians is that they make life much, much easier.

In calculus, the differential of the trigonometric functions is very simple

when the angle is in radians, and many other useful identities in
trigonometry and other areas of mathematics are also simplified with this
measure.

d d d
sin x = cos x, cos x = − sin x, tan x = − sec2 x,
dx dx dx
θ2
sin θ ≈ θ, cos θ ≈ 1 − , tan θ ≈ θ, . . .
2
Always use radians in your calculations from now on!

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Conversion between degrees and radians

Example.
2π radians ≡ 360◦
π radians = 180◦
π
rad = 1◦
180
17π
rad = 17◦
180
5π 5
rad = × 180◦
6 6
180◦
1 rad = ≈ 57.3◦
π
330π 11π
330◦ = = rad
180 6
102π
102◦ = ≈ 1.78 rad
180
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Exact Trignometric Results

To find approximate values of a trigonometric function at a given angle, we

use calculators. However, we can find exact values for some angles using
the following triangles.

30◦
π/6
√
2 3
45◦
√ π/4
2 1

45◦ π/4 60◦ π/3

1 1

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Exact Trignometric Results

Example. √
π 3
sin 60 ◦
= sin =
3 2
π 1 1 √
sec = = = 2
4 cos π4 √1
2

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 1
1 sin θ
b b

θ
−1 1 3π 5π 3π 7π
π
4
π
2 4
π 4 2 4
2π 9π
4

−1
−1
−1

1
cos θ
π
4
π
2
3π
4
π
5π
4
3π
2
7π
4
2π 9π

b
4

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Sine and Cosine
cos θ
1

sin θ
x
−2π − 3π π
2 −π − 2
π
2 π 3π
2 2π 5π
2 3π 7π
2 4π

−1
sin θ and cos θ have common features:
Domain: R
Range: [−1, 1]
They are periodic functions of period 2π. Both sine and cosine are
periodic functions with period 2π (360◦ ). So their values repeat every
2π radians.
Both have amplitude 1.
The amplitude of a wave is the maximum distance of a point on the
wave from its mean position.
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Sine and Cosine

Example.
 
π π  7π
sin(60 ) = sin
◦
= sin + 2π = sin = sin(420◦ )
3 3 3
   
◦ 2π 14π
sin(120 ) = sin = sin = sin(840◦ )
3 3
 
7π
cos(225 ) = cos
◦
= cos(225◦ − 360◦ ) = cos(−135◦ )
4

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Periodicity

We can also find the exact values of trigonometric functions at aome

π π π
angles other than , and (30◦ , 45◦ and 60◦ ).
6 4 3
The trick is to find the reference (or related angle) and correct for any sign
changes. A quick diagram indicating which quadrants have positive values
for the indicated functions can help with this:

sin all
S A
T C
tan cos

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Periodicity

Example. Find the exact values of

1 tan 210◦
 
11π
2 sin
6

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Compound Angles

We can also evaluate the trignometric functions of many other values using
the very useful relations for compound angles.

sin (A ± B) = sin A cos B ± sin B cos A

cos (A ± B) = cos A cos B ∓ sin A sin B
tan A ± tan B
tan (A ± B) =
1 ∓ tan A tan B

You are expected to know these!

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Compound Angles

Example. Find the exact value of cos(15◦ )

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Double Angle Formulae

We can use the compound angle formulae and set both A = θ and B = θ
to get the Double Angle Formulae:

sin (2θ) = 2 sin θ cos θ

cos (2θ) = cos2 θ − sin2 θ
2 tan θ
tan (2θ) =
1 − tan2 θ

These are in addition to the very useful identity

sin2 θ + cos2 θ = 1

You’re also expected to know these.

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Double Angle Formulae
12
Example. If θ is an acute angle such that sin θ = , find the exact
13
value of tan 2θ.

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Auxiliary Angle Formulae

If we add or subtract trignometric functions of different magnitudes we can

use the Auxillary Angle formulae:
Suppose that a > 0, b > 0.

a sin θ ± b cos θ = R sin (θ ± α)

a cos θ ± b sin θ = R cos (θ ∓ α)
where  
p b
R= a2 + b2 and α = tan −1
a

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Auxiliary Angle Formulae

What can we use the auxiliary angle for?

Example.
1 What is the maximum value of 3 sin θ + 4 cos θ?
2 Find the smallest positive value of x (in radians) for which the
maximum occurs.

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