Spherical trigonometry is the branch of spherical geometry that deals with the

relationships between trigonometric functions of the sides and angles of the

spherical polygons (especially spherical triangles) defined by a number of
intersecting great circles on the sphere. Spherical trigonometry is of great
importance for calculations in astronomy, geodesy and navigation.

The origins of spherical trigonometry in Greek mathematics and the major

developments in Islamic mathematics are discussed fully in History of trigonometry
and Mathematics in medieval Islam. The subject came to fruition in Early Modern
times with important developments by John Napier, Delambre and others, and attained
an essentially complete form by the end of the nineteenth century with the
publication of Todhunter's textbook Spherical trigonometry for the use of colleges
and Schools.[1] Since then, significant developments have been the application of
vector methods, and the use of numerical methods.

Contents
1 Preliminaries
1.1 Spherical polygons
1.2 Notation
1.3 Polar triangles
2 Cosine rules and sine rules
2.1 Cosine rules
2.2 Sine rules
2.3 Derivation of the cosine rule
2.4 Derivation of the sine rule
2.5 Alternative derivations
3 Identities
3.1 Supplemental cosine rules
3.2 Cotangent four-part formulae
3.3 Half-angle and half-side formulae
3.4 Delambre (or Gauss) analogies
3.5 Napier's analogies
3.6 Napier's rules for right spherical triangles
3.7 Napier's rules for quadrantal triangles
3.8 Five-part rules
4 Solution of triangles
4.1 Oblique triangles
4.2 Solution by right-angled triangles
4.3 Numerical considerations
5 Area and spherical excess
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
Preliminaries

Eight spherical triangles defined by the intersection of three great circles.

Spherical polygons
A spherical polygon is a polygon on the surface of the sphere defined by a number
of great-circle arcs, which are the intersection of the surface with planes through
the centre of the sphere. Such polygons may have any number of sides. Two planes
define a lune, also called a "digon" or bi-angle, the two-sided analogue of the
triangle: a familiar example is the curved surface of a segment of an orange. Three
planes define a spherical triangle, the principal subject of this article. Four
planes define a spherical quadrilateral: such a figure, and higher sided polygons,
can always be treated as a number of spherical triangles.

From this point the article will be restricted to spherical triangles, denoted
simply as triangles.
Notation

The basic triangle on a unit sphere.

Both vertices and angles at the vertices are denoted by the same upper case letters
A, B and C.
The angles A, B, C of the triangle are equal to the angles between the planes that
intersect the surface of the sphere or, equivalently, the angles between the
tangent vectors of the great circle arcs where they meet at the vertices. Angles
are in radians. The angles of proper spherical triangles are (by convention) less
than π so that π < A + B + C < 3π. (Todhunter,[1] Art.22,32).
The sides are denoted by lower-case letters a, b, c. On the unit sphere their
lengths are numerically equal to the radian measure of the angles that the great
circle arcs subtend at the centre. The sides of proper spherical triangles are (by
convention) less than π so that 0 < a + b + c < 3π. (Todhunter,[1] Art.22,32).
The radius of the sphere is taken as unity. For specific practical problems on a
sphere of radius R the measured lengths of the sides must be divided by R before
using the identities given below. Likewise, after a calculation on the unit sphere
the sides a, b, c must be multiplied by R.
Polar triangles

The polar triangle A'B'C'

The polar triangle associated with a triangle ABC is defined as follows. Consider
the great circle that contains the side BC. This great circle is defined by the
intersection of a diametral plane with the surface. Draw the normal to that plane
at the centre: it intersects the surface at two points and the point that is on the
same side of the plane as A is (conventionally) termed the pole of A and it is
denoted by A'. The points B' and C' are defined similarly.

The triangle A'B'C' is the polar triangle corresponding to triangle ABC. A very
important theorem (Todhunter,[1] Art.27) proves that the angles and sides of the
polar triangle are given by

{\displaystyle {\begin{alignedat}{3}A'&=\pi -a,&\qquad B'&=\pi -b,&\qquad C'&=\pi

-c,\\a'&=\pi -A,&b'&=\pi -B,&c'&=\pi -C.\end{alignedat}}}
\begin{alignat}{3}
A' &= \pi - a , &\qquad B' &= \pi - b , &\qquad C' &= \pi - c ,\\
a' &= \pi - A , & b' &= \pi - B , & c' &= \pi - C .
\end{alignat}
Therefore, if any identity is proved for the triangle ABC then we can immediately
derive a second identity by applying the first identity to the polar triangle by
making the above substitutions. This is how the supplemental cosine equations are
derived from the cosine equations. Similarly, the identities for a quadrantal
triangle can be derived from those for a right-angled triangle. The polar triangle
of a polar triangle is the original triangle.

Cosine rules and sine rules

Cosine rules
Main article: Spherical law of cosines
The cosine rule is the fundamental identity of spherical trigonometry: all other
identities, including the sine rule, may be derived from the cosine rule.

{\displaystyle \cos a=\cos b\cos c+\sin b\sin c\cos A,\!}\cos a= \cos b \cos c +
\sin b \sin c \cos A, \!
{\displaystyle \cos b=\cos c\cos a+\sin c\sin a\cos B,\!}\cos b= \cos c \cos a +
\sin c \sin a \cos B, \!
{\displaystyle \cos c=\cos a\cos b+\sin a\sin b\cos C,\!}\cos c= \cos a \cos b +
\sin a \sin b \cos C, \!
These identities approximate the cosine rule of plane trigonometry if the sides are
much smaller than the radius of the sphere. (On the unit sphere, if a, b, c << 1:
set {\displaystyle \sin a\approx a} \sin a \approx a and {\displaystyle \cos
a\approx 1-a^{2}/2} \cos a \approx 1-a^2/2 etc.; see Spherical law of cosines.)

Sine rules
Main article: Spherical law of sines
The spherical law of sines is given by the formula

{\displaystyle {\frac {\sin A}{\sin a}}={\frac {\sin B}{\sin b}}={\frac {\sin C}

{\sin c}}.}\frac{\sin A}{\sin a}=\frac{\sin B}{\sin b}=\frac{\sin C}{\sin c}.
These identities approximate the sine rule of plane trigonometry when the sides are
much smaller than the radius of the sphere.

Derivation of the cosine rule

Main article: Spherical law of cosines
Spherical trigonometry vectors.svg
The spherical cosine formulae were originally proved by elementary geometry and the
planar cosine rule (Todhunter,[1] Art.37). He also gives a derivation using simple
coordinate geometry and the planar cosine rule (Art.60). The approach outlined here
uses simpler vector methods. (These methods are also discussed at Spherical law of
cosines.)

Consider three unit vectors OA, OB and OC drawn from the origin to the vertices of
the triangle (on the unit sphere). The arc BC subtends an angle of magnitude a at
the centre and therefore OB·OC=cos a. Introduce a Cartesian basis with OA along the
z-axis and OB in the xz-plane making an angle c with the z-axis. The vector OC
projects to ON in the xy-plane and the angle between ON and the x-axis is A.
Therefore, the three vectors have components:

OA {\displaystyle (0,\,0,\,1)}(0,\,0,\,1) OB {\displaystyle (\sin c,\,0,\,\cos

c)}(\sin c,\,0,\,\cos c) OC {\displaystyle (\sin b\cos A,\,\sin b\sin A,\,\cos
b)}(\sin b\cos A,\,\sin b\sin A,\,\cos b).
The scalar product OB·OC in terms of the components is

OB·OC = {\displaystyle \sin c\,\sin b\,\cos A+\cos c\,\cos b}\sin c \,\sin b \,

\cos A + \cos c \,\cos b.
Equating the two expressions for the scalar product gives

{\displaystyle \cos a=\cos b\,\cos c+\sin b\,\sin c\,\cos A.}\cos a = \cos

b \,\cos c + \sin b \, \sin c \,\cos A.
This equation can be re-arranged to give explicit expressions for the angle in
terms of the sides:

{\displaystyle \cos A={\frac {\cos a\,-\,\cos b\,\cos c}{\sin b\,\sin c}}.}\cos A

= \frac{\cos a\,-\,\cos b\,\cos c}{\sin b\, \sin c}.
The other cosine rules are obtained by cyclic permutations.

Derivation of the sine rule

Main article: Spherical law of sines
This derivation is given in Todhunter,[1] (Art.40). From the identity
{\displaystyle \sin ^{2}A=1-\cos ^{2}A}\sin^2 A=1-\cos^2 A and the explicit
expression for {\displaystyle \cos A}\cos A given immediately above

{\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\sin ^{2}\!A&=1-\left({\frac {\cos a-\cos b\,\cos c}

{\sin b\,\sin c}}\right)^{2}\\&={\frac {(1-\cos ^{2}\!b)(1-\cos ^{2}\!c)-(\cos
a-\cos b\,\cos c)^{2}}{\sin ^{2}\!b\,\sin ^{2}\!c}}\\{\frac {\sin A}{\sin
a}}&={\frac {[1-\cos ^{2}\!a-\cos ^{2}\!b-\cos ^{2}\!c+2\cos a\cos b\cos c]^{1/2}}
{\sin a\sin b\sin c}}.\end{aligned}}}
\begin{align}
 \sin^2\!A &=1-\left(\frac{\cos a - \cos b\, \cos c}{\sin b \,\sin c}\right)^2\\
&
=\frac{(1-\cos^2\!b)(1-\cos^2\!c)-(\cos a - \cos b\, \cos c)^2}
{\sin^2\!b \,\sin^2\!c}\\
\frac{\sin A}{\sin a}&=\frac{[1-\cos^2\!a-\cos^2\!b-\cos^2\!c+2\cos a\cos b\cos
c]^{1/2}}{\sin a\sin b\sin c}.
\end{align}
Since the right hand side is invariant under a cyclic permutation of {\displaystyle
a,\;b,\;c}a,\;b,\;c the spherical sine rule follows immediately.

Alternative derivations
There are many ways of deriving the fundamental cosine and sine rules and the other
rules developed in the following sections. For example, Todhunter[1] gives two
proofs of the cosine rule (Articles 37 and 60) and two proofs of the sine rule
(Articles 40 and 42). The page on Spherical law of cosines gives four different
proofs of the cosine rule. Text books on geodesy (such as Clarke[2]) and spherical
astronomy (such as Smart[3]) give different proofs and the online resources of
MathWorld provide yet more.[4] There are even more exotic derivations, such as that
of Banerjee[5] who derives the formulae using the linear algebra of projection
matrices and also quotes methods in differential geometry and the group theory of
rotations.

The derivation of the cosine rule presented above has the merits of simplicity and
directness and the derivation of the sine rule emphasises the fact that no separate
proof is required other than the cosine rule. However, the above geometry may be
used to give an independent proof of the sine rule. The scalar triple product,
OA·(OB×OC) evaluates to {\displaystyle \sin b\sin c\sin A}{\displaystyle \sin b\sin
c\sin A} in the basis shown. Similarly, in a basis oriented with the z-axis along
OB, the triple product OB·(OC×OA) evaluates to {\displaystyle \sin c\sin a\sin B}
{\displaystyle \sin c\sin a\sin B}. Therefore, the invariance of the triple product
under cyclic permutations gives {\displaystyle \sin b\sin A=\sin a\sin B}
{\displaystyle \sin b\sin A=\sin a\sin B} which is the first of the sine rules. See
curved variations of the Law of Sines to see details of this derivation.

Identities
Supplemental cosine rules
Applying the cosine rules to the polar triangle gives (Todhunter,[1] Art.47), i.e.
replacing A by π–a, a by π–A etc.,

{\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\cos A&=-\cos B\,\cos C+\sin B\,\sin C\,\cos

a,\\\cos B&=-\cos C\,\cos A+\sin C\,\sin A\,\cos b,\\\cos C&=-\cos A\,\cos B+\sin
A\,\sin B\,\cos c.\end{aligned}}}{\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\cos A&=-\cos
B\,\cos C+\sin B\,\sin C\,\cos a,\\\cos B&=-\cos C\,\cos A+\sin C\,\sin A\,\cos
b,\\\cos C&=-\cos A\,\cos B+\sin A\,\sin B\,\cos c.\end{aligned}}}