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13.2: Trigonometric Identities

  • Page ID
    14852
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    Sine and cosine are periodic, leading to the following identities:

    \[\sin\theta =-\sin\left ( -\theta \right )=-\cos(\theta +\frac{\pi }{2})=\cos(\theta -\frac{\pi }{2})\]

    \[\cos\theta =\cos\left ( -\theta \right )=\sin(\theta +\frac{\pi }{2})=-\sin(\theta -\frac{\pi }{2})\]

    The sine or cosine for sums or differences between angles can be calculated using the following identities:

    \[\cos(\theta _{1}+\theta _{2})=\cos(\theta _{1})\cos(\theta _{2})-\sin(\theta _{1})\sin(\theta _{2})\]

    \[\sin(\theta _{1}+\theta _{2})=\sin(\theta _{1})\cos(\theta _{2})+\cos(\theta _{1})\sin(\theta _{2})\]

    \[\cos(\theta _{1}-\theta _{2})=\cos(\theta _{1})\cos(\theta _{2})+\sin(\theta _{1})\sin(\theta _{2})\]

    \[\sin(\theta _{1}-\theta _{2})=\sin(\theta _{1})\cos(\theta _{2})-\cos(\theta _{1})\sin(\theta _{2})\]

    The sum of the squares of sine and cosine for the same angle is one:

    \[\cos(\theta )\cos(\theta )+\sin(\theta )\sin(\theta )=1\]


    This page titled 13.2: Trigonometric Identities 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; a detailed edit history is available upon request.