All of the
trigonometric functions of an angle
θ can be constructed geometrically in terms of a unit circle centered at
O.
The 3rd-century
astronomers first noted that the lengths of the sides of a
right-angle triangle and the
angles between those sides have fixed relationships: that is, if at least the length of one side and the value of one angle is known, then all other angles and lengths can be determined algorithmically. These calculations soon came to be defined as the
trigonometric functions and today are pervasive in both
pure and
applied mathematics: fundamental methods of analysis such as the
Fourier transform, for example, or the
wave equation, use trigonometric functions to understand
cyclical phenomena across many applications in fields as diverse as physics,
mechanical and
electrical engineering, music and acoustics, astronomy, ecology, and biology. Trigonometry is also the foundation of
surveying.
Trigonometry is most simply associated with
planar right-angle triangles (each of which is a two-dimensional triangle with one angle equal to 90 degrees). The applicability to non-right-angle triangles exists, but, since any non-right-angle triangle (on a flat plane) can be bisected to create two right-angle triangles, most problems can be reduced to calculations on right-angle triangles. Thus the majority of applications relate to right-angle triangles. One exception to this is
spherical trigonometry, the study of triangles on
spheres, surfaces of constant positive
curvature, in
elliptic geometry (a fundamental part of
astronomy and
navigation). Trigonometry on surfaces of negative curvature is part of
hyperbolic geometry.
Trigonometry basics are often taught in schools, either as a separate course or as a part of a
precalculus course.
History
A thick ring-like shell object found at the
Indus Valley Civilization site of
Lothal, with four slits each in two margins served as a compass to measure angles on plane surfaces or in the horizon in multiples of 40 degrees, up to 360 degrees. Such shell instruments were probably invented to measure 8–12 whole sections of the horizon and sky, explaining the slits on the lower and upper margins. Archaeologists consider this as evidence that the Lothal experts had achieved an 8–12 fold division of horizon and sky, as well as an instrument for measuring angles and perhaps the position of stars, and for navigation.
Sumerian astronomers studied angle measure, using a division of circles into 360 degrees. They, and later the
Babylonians, studied the ratios of the sides of
similar triangles and discovered some properties of these ratios but did not turn that into a systematic method for finding sides and angles of triangles. The
ancient Nubians used a similar method.
In the 3rd century BC, Hellenistic mathematicians such as Euclid and Archimedes studied the properties of chords and inscribed angles in circles, and they proved theorems that are equivalent to modern trigonometric formulae, although they presented them geometrically rather than algebraically. In 140 BC, Hipparchus (from Nicaea, Asia Minor) gave the first tables of chords, analogous to modern tables of sine values, and used them to solve problems in trigonometry and spherical trigonometry. In the 2nd century AD, the Greco-Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy (from Alexandria, Egypt) printed detailed trigonometric tables (Ptolemy's table of chords) in Book 1, chapter 11 of his Almagest. Ptolemy used chord length to define his trigonometric functions, a minor difference from the sine convention we use today. (The value we call sin(θ) can be found by looking up the chord length for twice the angle of interest (2θ) in Ptolemy's table, and then dividing that value by two.) Centuries passed before more detailed tables were produced, and Ptolemy's treatise remained in use for performing trigonometric calculations in astronomy throughout the next 1200 years in the medieval Byzantine, Islamic, and, later, Western European worlds.
The modern sine convention is first attested in the
Surya Siddhanta, and its properties were further documented by the 5th century (AD)
Indian mathematician and astronomer
Aryabhata.These Greek and Indian works were translated and expanded by
medieval Islamic mathematicians. By the 10th century, Islamic mathematicians were using all six trigonometric functions, had tabulated their values, and were applying them to problems in
spherical geometry.At about the same time,
Chinese mathematicians developed trigonometry independently, although it was not a major field of study for them. Knowledge of trigonometric functions and methods reached
Western Europe via
Latin translations of Ptolemy's Greek
Almagest as well as the works of
Persian and Arabic astronomers such as
Al Battani and
Nasir al-Din al-Tusi. One of the earliest works on trigonometry by a northern European mathematician is
De Triangulis by the 15th century
German mathematician
Regiomontanus, who was encouraged to write, and provided with a copy of the
Almagest, by the
Byzantine Greek scholar cardinal
Basilios Bessarion with whom he lived for several years. At the same time, another translation of the
Almagest from Greek into Latin was completed by the Cretan
George of Trebizond. Trigonometry was still so little known in 16th-century northern Europe that
Nicolaus Copernicus devoted two chapters of
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium to explain its basic concepts.
Overview
In this right triangle:
sin A = a/c;cos A = b/c; tan A = a/b.
If one
angle of a triangle is 90 degrees and one of the other angles is known, the third is thereby fixed, because the three angles of any triangle add up to 180 degrees. The two acute angles therefore add up to 90 degrees: they are
complementary angles. The
shape of a triangle is completely determined, except for
similarity, by the angles. Once the angles are known, the
ratios of the sides are determined, regardless of the overall size of the triangle. If the length of one of the sides is known, the other two are determined. These ratios are given by the following
trigonometric functions of the known angle
A, where
a,
b and
c refer to the lengths of the sides in the accompanying figure:
- Sine function (sin), defined as the ratio of the side opposite the angle to the hypotenuse.
-
- Cosine function (cos), defined as the ratio of the adjacent leg to the hypotenuse.
-
- Tangent function (tan), defined as the ratio of the opposite leg to the adjacent leg.
-
The
hypotenuse is the side opposite to the 90 degree angle in a right triangle; it is the longest side of the triangle and one of the two sides adjacent to angle
A. The
adjacent leg is the other side that is adjacent to angle
A. The
opposite side is the side that is opposite to angle
A. The terms
perpendicular and
base are sometimes used for the opposite and adjacent sides respectively. Many people find it easy to remember what sides of the right triangle are equal to sine, cosine, or tangent, by memorizing the word
SOH-CAH-TOA (see below under
Mnemonics).
The
reciprocals of these functions are named the
cosecant (csc or cosec),
secant (sec), and
cotangent (cot), respectively:
The
inverse functions are called the
arcsine,
arccosine, and
arctangent, respectively. There are arithmetic relations between these functions, which are known as
trigonometric identities. The cosine, cotangent, and cosecant are so named because they are respectively the sine, tangent, and secant of the complementary angle abbreviated to "co-".
With these functions, one can answer virtually all questions about arbitrary triangles by using the
law of sines and the
law of cosines. These laws can be used to compute the remaining angles and sides of any triangle as soon as two sides and their included angle or two angles and a side or three sides are known. These laws are useful in all branches of geometry, since every
polygonmay be described as a finite combination of triangles.
Mnemonics
A common use of
mnemonics is to remember facts and relationships in trigonometry. For example, the
sine,
cosine, and
tangent ratios in a right triangle can be remembered by representing them and their corresponding sides as strings of letters. For instance, a mnemonic is SOH-CAH-TOA:
- Sine = Opposite ÷ Hypotenuse
- Cosine = Adjacent ÷ Hypotenuse
- Tangent = Opposite ÷ Adjacent
Pythagorean identities
Common formulae
Triangle with sides
a,
b,
c and respectively opposite angles
A,
B,
C
Certain equations involving trigonometric functions are true for all angles and are known as
trigonometric identities. Some identities equate an expression to a different expression involving the same angles. These are listed in
List of trigonometric identities. Triangle identities that relate the sides and angles of a given triangle are listed below.
In the following identities, A, B and C are the angles of a triangle and a, b and c are the lengths of sides of the triangle opposite the respective angles (as shown in the diagram).
Law of sines
The
law of sines (also known as the "sine rule") for an arbitrary triangle states:
where
is the area of the triangle and
R is the radius of the
circumscribed circle of the triangle:
Another law involving sines can be used to calculate the area of a triangle. Given two sides a and b and the angle between the sides C, the area of the triangle is given by half the product of the lengths of two sides and the sine of the angle between the two sides:
Law of cosines
The
law of cosines (known as the cosine formula, or the "cos rule") is an extension of the Pythagorean theorem to arbitrary triangles:
or equivalently:
The law of cosines may be used to prove
Heron's formula, which is another method that may be used to calculate the area of a triangle. This formula states that if a triangle has sides of lengths
a,
b, and
c, and if the semiperimeter is
then the area of the triangle is:
- ,
Law of tangents[edit]
Euler's formula[edit]
Angle transformation formulae