P2 Chapter 6 :: Trigonometry

jfrost@tiffin.kingston.sch.uk
www.drfrostmaths.com
@DrFrostMaths

Last modified: 6th September 2018

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Chapter Overview
 
This chapter is very similar to the trigonometry chapters in Year 1. The only
difference is that new trig functions: and , are introduced.

2:: ‘Solvey’ questions.

 1:: Understanding and draw their
graphs.  “Solve, for , the equation
 “Draw a graph of for .”
giving your solutions to 3sf.”

4:: Inverse trig functions and their

3:: ‘Provey’ questions. domains/ranges.
 “Prove that  “Show that, when is small,
.”

Teacher Note: There is no change in this

chapter relative to the old pre-2017 syllabus.
A new member of the trig family…

 
cos ( 𝑥 ) Original and best. Like the ‘Classic
Cola’ of trig functions*.

2 2 The latter form is particularly useful

cos ( 𝑥 )=( cos𝑥 )
 
for differentiation (see Chp9)

  careful: the -1 here doesn’t

Be
−1
cos ( 𝑥 ) 𝑜𝑟 arccos ⁡( 𝑥)
  mean a power of -1 UNLIKE
above. This is an unfortunate
historical accident. is an
alternative notation we’ll see later
this chapter.
 
𝟏
𝐬𝐞𝐜 ( 𝒙 )=
We have a convenient way of
representing the reciprocal of the
𝐜𝐨𝐬 ( 𝒙 ) trig functions.

* Actually, I’ll contradict this in the ‘Just For Your Interest’ slides coming up soon.
 Reciprocal Trigonometric Functions
!  
1
sec ( 𝑥 )= Short for “secant”

cos ( 𝑥 )
Pronounced “sehk” in shortened
form or “sea-Kant” in full.

 
1
cosec ( 𝑥 ) = Short for “cosecant”

sin ( 𝑥 )
 
1 cos ( 𝑥 ) Short for “cotangent”
co 𝑡 ( 𝑥 )= 𝑜𝑟 In shortened form, rhymes with “pot”.
tan ( 𝑥 ) sin ( 𝑥 )
  Tip: To remember these, look
Fro
at the 3rd letter: ’s 3rd is ‘c’ so it’s
 We typically use this version instead 1 over cos.
of when doing proof questions.
Just for your interest…
 
Is ‘tangent’ () in trigonometry related to
the ‘tangent’ of a circle?
A tangent is a trigonometric function (which
inputs an angle and gives you the ratio
  common myth is that , and are the
A
between the opposite and adjacent sides of a ‘core’ trigonometric functions.
right-angled triangle), but also a line which
touches a circle. Are they related?  Actually, they’re and !
? tange ?
? nt
A tangent is a line which
  𝑜𝑝𝑝 touches the circle. We’re
tan 𝜃=
𝑎𝑑𝑗 ? interested in the length
just between the
touching point and where
it meets the secant.
𝒕

𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕
 
Just as ‘radius’ can refer either to the line itself
𝒂𝒏
or its length, we have names for other special
 𝒔𝒆 𝒄
lines, which can also refer to their lengths:
𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆
 

𝜃
A secant (shortened to ‘sec’) is a Sine (sort of) comes from
  the word for ‘bowstring’. It
line which cuts the circle. In a
trig setting, we’re interested in refers to half the line if we
doubled up the arc and
 𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒖𝒔
the length from the circle centre
to where it meets the tangent. connected the two ends.
 Suppose
  we let the radius of the sector be 1. Then if we
define and and then this conveniently gives us:

 𝑐

𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕
 
 1 i.e. , and actually give us the lengths of the sine,
 𝑏 tangent and secant respectively.
𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆
 
 𝑎

 𝜃

 𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒖𝒔
 1  And hence and the length of the ‘tangent’
are clearly linked!

 “So if , and are “cosine”

  (), “cotangent” () and “cosecant” () are the ‘complementary’ trig
functions. Complementary angles add to .
the ‘core’ The two smaller angles in a right-angled triangle are clearly complementary.
trigonometric
functions, where The
  complementary sine (cosine) of an angle is by definition the sine of the
complementary angle, e.g. . Thus:
does come into
the fray?” 40°
 

(A very common misconception is that the definition of . While this identity is true, this is not
 
50°
  the definition of , and is a consequence of the adjacent and opposite swapping when we switch
to the complementary angle.)
Calculations
You have a calculator in A Level exams, but won’t however in STEP, etc. It’s good
however to know how to calculate certain values yourself if needed.

    ?
?
?
?
?
? ?
?
?
Exercises 6A
Pearson Pure Mathematics Year 2/AS
Page 144
 Sketches
  draw a graph of , start with a graph of , then consider what happens when we reciprocate
To
each value.

𝐞𝐜 𝒙
It touches
 𝑦

𝐜𝐨𝐬
here because  isn’t defined for
the reciprocal multiples of  Click to Frosketch

 𝒚 =
of 1 is 1. because we can’t
1   𝑦
divide by 0. We
get an asymptote.
=s
in
𝑥
 𝑥
1  𝜋  3  2𝜋
 
𝜋 𝜋
2 2
−1
 
 
Domain: ?
Reciprocating
Range: ?
preserves sign. When
we divide by a small
positive number, we
get a very large positive
number.
Sketches

 𝒚
=
 𝑦

𝐬𝐞
 Click to Frosketch

𝐜𝒙
1 
cos𝑥
 𝑦 =
 𝑥
1  𝜋  3  2𝜋
 
𝜋 𝜋
2 2
−1
 
 
Domain:
Range:
?
?
Sketches
 Click to Brosketch

 𝑦
 
Domain: ?
Range: ?
 𝒚
=
ta n𝑥 𝐜𝐨
 𝑥
1  =
 𝑦  
𝜋 3  𝐭 𝒙 2𝜋
 
𝜋 𝜋
2 2
Extra
  Insight: We might spot
that the graph is symmetrical
about , etc. This is not a
coincidence: the ‘proper’
definition of
, so for example, with and
being symmetrical about .
Example
 [Textbook]
a) Sketch the graph of .
b) On the same axes, sketch the line .
c) State the number of solutions to the equation

 𝑦
 𝑦=cosec 𝑥

  𝑦=𝑥
4 
?  𝑥
1 1 
−𝜋
   
− 𝜋 𝜋 𝜋 
2 2
 
−4
  The lines do not intersect for
so there are no solutions.
Test Your Understanding
 Sketch in the interval .

 𝑦  𝑦
 𝒚= 𝐬𝐞𝐜 𝒙 𝒚=𝐬𝐞𝐜
  𝟐𝒙
1
  1
 

 𝑥 90° 180° 270° 360°  𝑥

90°
  180°
  270°
  360°
         
−1
  −1
 

?
 𝑦
𝒚=−
  𝟏+𝐬𝐞𝐜 𝟐 𝒙

 𝑥
Draw the transformations
90°
  180°
  270°
  360°
  stage by stage, unless you
feel comfortable doing
−2
  multiple transformations
at once.
Exercises 6B
Pearson Pure Mathematics Year 2/AS
Page 148-149
 
Using
Questions in the exam usually come in two flavours: (a) ‘provey’ questions requiring to
prove some identity and (b) ‘solvey’ questions.

[Textbook] Fro
  Tip 1: Get everything in
 
(a) Simplify terms of and first (using
(b) Simplify rather than )
(c) Prove that

Fro
  Tip 2: Whenever you have algebraic fractions being
added/subtracted, whether or , combine them into one (as
we can typically then use )

a   c  
cos𝜃 1
? ×
cot𝜃𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑐𝜃 sin𝜃 sin𝜃
?2 ≡
b
2
? sec 𝜃+𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑐 𝜃 1 + 1
2 2
cos 𝜃 sin 𝜃
Multiply top and bottom
  by
Test Your Understanding

sec 𝑥−cos 𝑥≡sin 𝑥tan 𝑥

  1

(1+cos𝑥 )(c 𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑥−cot𝑥 )≡ sin 𝑥

2  

?
Solvey Questions
 [Textbook] Solve the following equations  Solve in the interval .
in the interval :

cot𝜃=0
a)   You can’t reciprocate 0.
b)  However, the value tends
towards , which coincides with
the asymptotes of .

a   Reciprocate both sides.

?
𝑦 
b
?
? 𝑥 
1  3
2
𝜋 𝜋  2
 𝜋 2𝜋 
Test Your Understanding
 Solve in the interval :

0≤3𝜃<1080°
 

?
Exercises 6C
Pearson Pure Mathematics Year 2/AS
Page 152
New Identities
From C2 you knew:

 
sin 2 𝑥+cos 2 𝑥=1
There are just two new identities you need to know:
Fro
  Tip: I used to
misremember this as “”.
2 2
 Dividing by :  
1 +tan 𝑥=
? sec 𝑥 Then I imagined the
Queen coming back
from holiday, saying
2 2
 Dividing by :
 
1+cot 𝑥= cosec 𝑥
? “One is tanned”, i.e. the
1 goes with the

 “Prove that .”
Fro Tip: I remember this
one by starting with the
  above, and slapping ‘co’
Fro
  Tip: This has been asked on front of each trig
in an exam before! You must function.
explicitly show each term
being divided by .
Examples
 [Textbook] Prove that

𝟐 𝟐? 𝟐 𝟐
𝑳𝑯𝑺=(𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝒄 𝜽+𝒄𝒐𝒕 𝜽 )(𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐜 𝜽−𝒄𝒐𝒕 𝜽)
 Solve the equation in the interval

𝟐
This
  is just like in C2; if you had

𝟒(𝟏+𝐜𝐨𝐭 𝜽)−𝟗=𝐜𝐨𝐭𝜽
say a mixture of : you’d change
the to in order to get a
quadratic in terms of .
?
Test Your Understanding
Edexcel C3 June 2013 (R)

2 2
 

3sec 𝜃+3sec𝜃=2 ( sec 𝜃−1 ) ?

Q  Solve, for , the equation

giving your solutions to 3sf.

?
Exercises 6D
Pearson Pure Mathematics Year 2/AS
Pages 156-157
Inverse Trig Functions
 You need to know how to sketch , .
 𝑦
(Yes, you could be asked in an exam!)

 We have to restrict the domain

of to before we can find the  𝝅
inverse. Why? 𝟐
Because only one-to-one
functions have an inverse. By
1 

𝒙
?

𝒊𝒏
restricting the domain it is

𝒄𝒔
now one-to-one.

𝒂𝒓
=
 𝑥

 𝒚
𝜋 −𝟏  𝜋
− 
2
  𝟏  2

in 𝑥
 𝑦 =s −1
 
  𝝅
−
𝟐
Inverse Trig Functions

 
𝑦=arccos 𝑥  
𝑦=arc tan 𝑥

? ?

Note that this graph has asymptotes.

Evaluating inverse trig functions
 [Textbook] Work out, in radians, the values of: You
  can simply use the , and buttons
a) on your calculator.
b) If you don’t have a calculator, just use
the graphs backwards.
c)

 
√ 2 ?
𝜋
arcsin − ( 2) =−
?
?
4
One Final Problem…
Edexcel C3 Jan 2007

Fewer than 10%

  of candidates got
this part right.

?
Exercises 6E
Pearson Pure Mathematics Year 2/AS
Pages 160-161