Trigonometry

Sections:
The Unit Circle | Pythagoras | Radian Measure | Solving Right-Angled
Triangles | Solving Non-Right-Angled Triangles (Sin/Cos Formula,
Area of ) | Solving Trig Equations | Graphing Trig Functions |
Required Proofs

Finding lengths and angles in right-angled triangles

Eg.
A man stands on top of a vertical cliff. He spots a buoy 27m
from the base of the cliff at an angle of depression of 25 .
How high is the cliff to two decimal places?

O
A
27
Tan65 =
x
x tan65 = 27
27
x=
tan 65
x = 12.59m
Tan A =

Eg.
A ladder, which is 6m long, leans against a vertical wall. The
foot of the ladder is on level ground at a distance of 1, from
the bottom of the wall. Find the measure of the angle that
the latter makes with the ground to the nearest degree.

A
H
1
Cos A =
6
1 1
A = cos
6
A = 80
Cos A =

Eg.

5
and A is an acute angle write down the value
13
of cos A without tables or calculator.
If sin A =

5
O
=
13
H
2
2
2
=
+
c
a
b
2
2
2
13 = x + 5
169 = x 2 + 25
x 2 = 144
x = 12
sin A =

cos A =

12
13

Angles in 4 Quadrants

90
2ND

1ST

SIN +

ALL +

180
TAN +

COS +

3RD

270

4TH

The reference angle, R, is the smallest angle from the

horizontal in each quadrant.
Eg.
Solve sin x =

1
, in the range 0
2

360

x =

1
2

sin 1

= 30

30

30

is in the 1st Quadrant (A) and is the ref angle. Sin

30
is also positive in the 2nd Quadrant (S), so a line is drawn there with
the same ref angle. We go around 360 , so the solutions are:
x = 30 , 150
1
Solve cos(2x - 30 ) = in the range 0 x 180
2