Reference Angle

What is a Reference Angle

A reflex angle is the smallest acute angle that the terminal arm of the angle
makes with the x-axis when drawn on a coordinate plane. Regardless of the
location of the terminal side, the reference angle measures the closest distance of
that side from the x-axis.
Reference Angle

The reference angle is used for simplifying the calculations related to

trigonometric functions with different angles. Their value is always between 0
and 90° when measured in degrees or 0 and π/2 when measured in radians. A
reference angle always uses an x-axis as its frame of reference.
Looking at the picture above, every angle is measured from the positive part of
the x-axis to its terminal side by traveling in a counterclockwise direction.

Reference Angles and Trigonometric Functions

The two axes, x, and y divide the plane into four quadrants, named I, II, III, and IV.
The numbering starts from the upper right one, the first quadrant, where both
coordinates are positive as we continue to move in the anticlockwise direction.

Normally, the four trigonometric functions: sine, cosine, tangent, and cotangent
give the same value for an angle and its reference angle. The only thing that
varies is the sign.