Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

UNIT 7: TRIGONOMETRY.

Trigonometry: Trigonometry (from Greek trigonom “triangle” and metron “measure”) is a branch
of mathematics that studies triangles and the relationships between their sides and their angles.

Units of measurement of angles: There are two commonly used units of measurement of
angles. The more familiar unit of measurement is degrees. A circle is divided into 360 equal
degrees, so that a right angle is 90º.

The other common measurement for angles is radians.

One radian is the angle subtended at the centre of a l

circle by an arc that is equal in length to the radius of
the circle. 1 radian

Since the length of a circle is 2πr : r

360º = 2πr radians

or
180º = πr radians
r=l

Your
Turn

π
1. Convert radians to degrees.
4

2π
2. Convert radians to degrees.
3

1
Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

3. Convert 150º to radians.

4. Convert 135º to radians.

5. Complete the following table:

degrees 0º 30º 45º 60º 90º 180º 270º 360º

radians 1 radian

Trigonometric ratios of an angle: When we draw a perpendicular line to one side of the angle α
we get a right-angled triangle. The legs of this triangle are called opposite and adjacent.

B Opposite leg is opposite the angle α, and adjacent leg is

adjacent (next) to the angle α.

hypotenuse opposite There are six ways to form ratios of the three sides of this
triangle, and each of these ratios has a name:

α
A adjacent C

opposite leg 
BC
sine of α = sin α=
hypotenuse 
AB

adjacent leg 
AC
cosine of α = cos α=
hypotenuse 
AB

opposite leg 
BC
tangent of α = tan α=
adjacent leg 
AC

And their reciprocal (that is, the inverted fractions):

hypotenuse 
AB 1
cosecant of α = csc α= =
opposite leg 
BC sin α

hypotenuse 
AB 1
secant of α = sec α= =
adjacent leg 
AC cos α

adjacent leg 
AC 1
cotangent of α = cot α= =
opposite leg 
AC tan α

2
Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

If we drew other different right-angled triangles for the same angle, what would happen to the
trigonometric ratios?

B' 
BC
In ABC: sin α=
B 
AB

B 'C '
In AB'C' : sin α= 
AB'

Since the triangles ABC and AB'C' are similar,

α 
BC B 'C '
= .

AB 
AB'
A C C'
Therefore, the value of the sine of α does not depends on the right-angled triangle that we use.

The same thing can be said about the other trigonometric ratios.

Examples:

1. Find the trigonometric ratios of the angle α:

5 cm
3 cm
α
4 cm

2. Find the sine, cosine and tangent of the angles

A , C ,  ABD and  CBD

3
Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

Relations between the trigonometric ratios of an angle:

The trigonometric ratios of an angle are not independent. They have same relations between them.

*Note: We use the following notation to indicate the powers of the trigonometric ratios:

sin α2 =sin2 α cos α 2=cos 2 α tan α2=tan2 α

The fundamental relationships between the trigonometric ratios of an angle are:

C 2 2
(1) sin α cos α=1

a sin α
b (2) tan α=
cos α

α 1
1tan2 α=
B (3) 2
cos α
A c

Proof:

(1) sin 2 αcos 2 α=1

sin α
(2) tan α=
cos α

2 1
(3) 1tan α=
cos 2 α

Examples:

4
1. If sin α= , α an acute angle, find the values of cos α and tan α.
5

4
Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

5
2. If cos α= , α an acute angle, find the sin α and tan α.
13

3. If tan α=2 , α an acute angle, find the sin α and cos α.

2
4. If cos α= , α an acute angle, find the sin α and tan α.
3

5. If tan α= 5 , α an acute angle, find the sin α and cos α.

6. Use the calculator to complete the following table:

α 52º 34º23' 32º43'56'' 12º23'34''

sin α
cos α
tan α

7. Find the angle α, using your calculator, in each case. Express the angles in degrees, minutes
and seconds.

a) sin α=0.58 b) cos α=0.75 c) tan α=2.5

d) sin α=
5 e) cos α=
1
f) tan α=1
3 3

5
Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

Trigonometric ratios of 30º, 45º and 60º:

45º

30º
1 1

60º

30º 45º 60º

sin
cos
tan

6
Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

Trigonometric ratios of any angle:

Angles in a circumference: We can represent angles in a circumference which centre is the origin
of coordinates:
• Take the origin of coordinates as a vertex of the triangle.
• Use the radius on the positive semi-axis of abscissas as origin of the angle.
• Draw the extreme of the angle by measuring it.

If the radius is one, the circumference is called goniometric circumference.

If we represent an angle α in this circumference, we get the

point P(x,y). This point is the intersection of the side of the
angle that is not on the x-axis with the circumference.

P(x,y) is 1 unit away from the origin. Therefore, the sine of

α is the value of the y-coordinate of P, and the cosine of α is
the value of the x-coordinate of P.

y
sin α= y cos α=x tan α=
x

Sine, cosine and tangent in the four quadrants:

The coordinates axes divide the plane into four equal parts called quadrants. The angles in the
goniometric circumference will be each of the four quadrants.

If 0º < α < 90º , α belongs to the 1st quadrant

If 90º < α < 180º , α belongs to the 2nd quadrant

If 180º < α < 270º , α belongs to the 3rd quadrant

If 270º < α < 360º , α belongs to the 4th quadrant

7
Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

To sum up:

8
Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

The trigonometric ratios of the angles that coincide on the axis: 0º, 90º, 180º, 270º and 360º are:

90º

Angle 0º 90º 180º 270º 360º

180º sine
0º
360º cosine
tangent

270º

Your
Turn

3
1. If sin α= , α an angle of the second quadrant, calculate cos α and tan α.
4

1
2. If cos α= , α an angle of the fourth quadrant, calculate sin α and tan α.
4

9
Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

1
3. If tan α= , α an angle of the third quadrant, calculate sin α and cos α.
2

−1
4. If cos α= , α an angle of the second quadrant, calculate sin α and tan α.
5

− 3
5. If sin α= , α an angle of the third quadrant, calculate cos α and tan α.
3

6. If tan α=− 2 , α an angle of the fourth quadrant, calculate sin α and cos α.

10
Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

How to reduce to the first quadrant the trigonometric ratios of any angle?

Let α be an angle in the first quadrant.

Then, 180º-α is an angle of the second quadrant, 180º+α is an angle in the third quadrant and 360º-α
is an angle in the fourth quadrant.

The trigonometric ratios of 180º-α, 180º+α and 360º-α can be expressed in terms of the
trigonometric ratios of α.

11
Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

Your
Turn

5
1. If α is an acute angle and cos α= what are the trigonometric ratios of the angle 180º+α?
9

2. Use the trigonometric ratios of 45º to find the trigonometric ratios of 135º, 225º and 315º.

3. Use the trigonometric ratios of 30º to find the trigonometric ratios of 150º, 210º and 330º.

4. Use the trigonometric ratios of 60º to find the trigonometric ratios of 120º, 240º and 300º.

12
Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

Trigonometric ratios of complementary angles: α and 90º-α.

sin (90º-α) = cos α

90º-α
α cos (90º-α) = sin α

tan (90º-α) = cotan α

Example: If sin 20º = 0,342, calculate without using calculator, the trigonometric ratios of the angle
of 70º.

Trigonometric ratios of negative angles:

Trigonometric ratios of angles greater than 360º:

13
Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

In general, the trigonometric ratios of n·360º+α, where n∈ℤ and 0ºα360º , are the same
as the trigonometric ratios of α.

Example: sin 1500º = sin (4·360º+60º) = sin 60º =

3
2

1500º 360º
60º 4 rotations

Your
Turn
1. Without using calculator, find the values of these trigonometric ratios:

a) sin 120º b) cos 150º c) tan 120º

d) sin (-60º) e) cos 1125º f) tan 930º

g) sin 210º h) cos (-330º) i) tan (-315º)

j) sin (-330º) k) cos (-1305º) l) tan (210º)

14
Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

Solving the triangle:

What does “solving” the triangle means? It means that if we are given some facts about a triangle,
we can find some or all the rest. For example, if we know two sides of a right-angled triangle, we
can find the third side using Pythagoras' Theorem.

To completely solve a triangle it usually means finding everything about it, all three sides and all
three angles.

Your
Turn

1. Solve the following triangles:

a) b)
10 cm
7 cm

30º 27º

c) d)
10 cm
65º
4 cm 6 cm

15
Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

e) f)

9 cm
35º

12 cm 8 cm

2. Calculate the area of the triangle:

4 cm
60º

6 cm

3. Calculate the area of a regular pentagon whose side is 10 cm.

4. Calculate the perimeter and the area of an isosceles triangle whose base is 8 cm and its
opposite angle is 30º.

30º

8 cm

16
Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

5. The picture below shows a police helicopter chasing a stolen car. The sighted angle of
depression is 70 degrees. How far is the helicopter from the car? Find the distance from the
stolen car to a point directly below the helicopter?

6. At a certain day, the angle of elevation of the sun is 57 degrees. Find the height of the tree if
its shadow length is 45 feet. What is the distance from the top of the tree to the point in the
ground made by the shadow?

7. The figure below shows a 58 degrees angle of elevation from a point on the ground that is
130 feet from the base of a radio tower to its top. How tall is the radio tower?

17
Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

8. The helicopter in the picture is hovering 1250 feet above a small island. The angle of
depression from the helicopter to the point P on the mainland is 38 degrees. How far is the
island from the point P on the mainland? How far is the helicopter from the point P on the
mainland? What are the degree measures of the two “?” shown in the picture?

9. The tallest television-transmitting tower in the world is in the state of North Dakota. From a
point on level ground one mile from the base of the tower, the angle of elevation is 21
degrees. To the nearest foot, how high is this tower?

10. A balloon is hovering 800 ft. above a lake. The balloon is observed by the crew of a boat as
they look upwards at an angle of 20 degrees. Twenty-five seconds later, the crew has to look
at an angle of 65 degrees to see the balloon. How faster was the boat travelling?

11. Village A is 15 km away from Village B. From both villages, you can see a balloon in the
air. The angle of elevation from village A to the balloon is 30º and the angle of elevation
from Village B to the balloon is 20º. How high in the air is the balloon?

18
 Unit 7: Trigonometry. Mathematics 4th E.S.O. Teacher: Miguel A. Hernández.

12. Maria and Anthony are standing 5 metres apart and are looking up at the top of a tree. Maria
is closer to the tree than Anthony. The angle of elevation from where Maria is standing is
45º. The angle of elevation from where Anthony is standing to the top of the tree is 30º. How
tall is the tree? How far away from the tree is each person standing?

Keywords:

Trigonometry = Trigonometría
angle = ángulo
degree = grado
radian = radián
trigonometric ratios = razones trigonométircas
opposite leg = cateto opuesto
adjacent leg = cateto adyacente, cateto contiguo
hypotenuse = hipotenusa
sine = seno
cosine = coseno
tangent = tangente
cosecant = cosecante
secant = secante
cotangent = cotangente
goniometric circumference = circunferencia goniométrica, circunferencia unidad
quadrant = cuadrante

19

Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)