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13: Trigonometry

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Trigonometry relates angles and lengths of triangles. Figure A.1 shows a right-angled triangle and conventions to label its corners, sides, and angles. In the following, we assume all triangles to have at least one right angle (90 degrees or π/2 ) as all planar triangles can be dissected into two right-angled triangles.

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Figure 13.1: Left: A right-angled triangle with common notation. Right: Trigonometric relationships on the unit circle and angles corresponding to the four quadrants.

The sum of all angles in any triangle is 180 degrees or 2π, or

α+β+γ=180

If the triangle is right-angled, the relationship between edges a, b, and c, where c is the edge opposite of the right angle is

a2+b2=c2

The relationship between angles and edge lengths are captured by the trigonometric functions:

sinα=oppositehypothenuse=ac

cosα=adjacenthypothenuse=bc

tanα=oppositeadjacent=sinαcosα=ab

Here, the hypothenuse is the side of the triangle that is opposite to the right angle. The adjacent and opposite are relative to a specific angle. For example, in Figure 13.1, the adjacent of angle α is side b and the opposite of α is edge a.

Relations between a single angle and the edge lengths are captured by the law of cosines:

a2=b2+c22bccosα


This page titled 13: Trigonometry is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Nikolaus Correll via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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