Trigonometric identities
Trigonometric identities are used to manipulate trigonometry equations in certain ways. Here is a list of them:
Contents
Basic Definitions
The six basic trigonometric functions can be defined using a right triangle:
![Righttriangle.png](https://wiki-images.artofproblemsolving.com//0/00/Righttriangle.png)
The six trig functions are sine, cosine, tangent, cosecant, secant, and cotangent. They are abbreviated by using the first three letters of their name (except for cosecant which uses ). They are defined as follows:
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Even-Odd Identities
Further Conclusions
Based on the above identities, we can also claim that
This is only true when is in the domain of
.
Reciprocal Relations
From the first section, it is easy to see that the following hold:
Another useful identity that isn't a reciprocal relation is that .
Note that ; the former refers to the inverse trigonometric functions.
Pythagorean Identities
Using the Pythagorean Theorem on our triangle above, we know that . If we divide by
we get
, which is just
. Dividing by
or
instead produces two other similar identities. The Pythagorean Identities are listed below:
(Note that the last two are easily derived by dividing the first by and
, respectively.)
Angle Addition/Subtraction Identities
Once we have formulas for angle addition, angle subtraction is rather easy to derive. For example, we just look at and we can derive the sine angle subtraction formula using the sine angle addition formula.
We can prove easily by using
and
.
Double Angle Identities
Double angle identities are easily derived from the angle addition formulas by just letting . Doing so yields:
Further Conclusions
We can see from the above that
Half Angle Identities
Using the double angle identities, we can derive half angle identities. The double angle formula for cosine tells us . Solving for
we get
where we look at the quadrant of
to decide if it's positive or negative. Likewise, we can use the fact that
to find a half angle identity for sine. Then, to find a half angle identity for tangent, we just use the fact that
and plug in the half angle identities for sine and cosine.
To summarize:
Prosthaphaeresis Identities
(Otherwise known as sum-to-product identities)
Law of Sines
- Main article: Law of Sines
The extended Law of Sines states
Law of Cosines
- Main article: Law of Cosines
The Law of Cosines states
Law of Tangents
- Main article: Law of Tangents
The Law of Tangents states that if and
are angles in a triangle opposite sides
and
respectively, then
A further extension of the Law of Tangents states that if ,
, and
are angles in a triangle, then
Other Identities
(This is also written as
)
The two identities right above here were based on identites others posted on this site with a substitution.