© mymathscloud How do we use the unit circle?

Locate the start place at 0°. This is our starting point.

The coordinates indicated at each of the angles give us the

value of the trig functions (cos and sin) for that particular
angle. The angles have been given in degrees and radians
(the corresponding radian measures are right above the °
measures and have just been included for completeness -
most courses will use degrees to introduce this topic so you
can ignore these parts at first).

The D coordinate gives us the value of cos and the E

coordinate gives us the value of sin for each angle shown.
We go round in an anti-clockwise direction to get the values
of sin and cos for angles from 0° to 360° as shown.

Note:
• We can also go around the unit circle in a clockwise
direction will find the trig values for negative angles such
as −30, −60, −90° etc. −30° clockwise will give the
same value as 330° anti-clockwise.
• We can also go around the unit circle again to find the trig
values for angles bigger than 360° such as
390°, 405°, 420°, 450° etc.
Summary Table Of Values For The Unit Circle Above
Multiples of 30° and 45°: !"°, %&°, +"° etc Multiples of /"°: /"°, 01"°, 23"°, !+"° etc
!"° $%° &"° 120° 135° 150° 210° 225° 240° 300° 315° 330° "° 0"° 12"° 34"° !&"°
'() + ! √" √$ √$ √" ! ! √" √$ √$ √" ! 567 + ' ! ' −! '
− − − − − −
(" coordinate) " " " " " " " " " " " " (" coordinate)

,-' + √$ √" ! ! √" √$ √$ √" ! ! √" √$ ,-' + ! ' −! ' !

− − − − − −
($ coordinate) " " " " " " " " " " " " ($ coordinate)

./) + ! ! √$ −√$ −! ! ! 1 √$ −√$ −! ! ./) + ' ∞ ' ∞ '

− −
#$% ' √$ √$ √$ √$ #$% '
!= * != *
()# ' ()# '

Alternative method for finding angles of !"°, %&° ()* +"° ,-. : Use SOHCAHTOA Alternative method for multiples of 90° :
Plot the 4 coordinates (0,1), (1,0), (−1,0), (0,−1)

Key:
Use SOHCAHTOA to find the values for the
angles ()°, *+°, ,)°

)** -./ )**

'() + = +,* , cos + = +,* , tan + = -./

Alternative Method For Larger Angles (over /"°)

From knowing the values of the trig functions for the acute
angles above (30°, 45° and 60°), we can find the values of the
trig functions for larger angles. First, recall the signs of the
trig functions in each quadrant shown on the right. Also Key:
recall that going anti-clockwise gives us positive angles (", $) ⟹ ('() +, ),- +)
This means the ! coordinate gives us the value of cos
and clockwise gives us negative angles.
the " coordinate gives us the value of sin
For example, if we know the trig values for 45°, we can also work out the trig values for 135°, 225° and 315°. for any of the angles $ (the angles are represented on the axes)
AB° 5CB°
We know these values since we are meant to memorise the values We draw an angle of 135° which leaves an angle of 45° in the For example
of trig functions for angles 30, 45° , 60° and 90°. We draw an angle 2nd quadrant. We know that the trig values will be the exact ./0 12 ° = " coordinate at 12° = 2
of 45°. same as for 45°, we just have the worry about the signs in the
2nd quadrant. ./0 562 ° = " .//789:;<= at 562° = −5

./0 ?@2 ° = $ coordinate at ?@2° = −5

sin is
positive,
but cos
We can also find negative angles by going clockwise
and tan
are ./0 (−562) ° = $ coordinate at −562° = 2
negative
in
quadrant These values can be summarised in 3 simple diagrams
2

??B° C5B°
We draw an angle of 135° which leaves an angle of 45° in the 3rd We draw an angle of 315° which leaves an angle of 45° in the
quadrant. We know that the trig values will be the exact same as for 4th quadrant. We know the trig values will be the same as for
45°, we just have the worry about the signs in the 3rd quadrant. 45°, we just have the worry about the signs in the 4th quadrant.

cos is
tan is
positive,
positive,
but sin
but sin
and cos
and tan sin(−90°) = −1 cos(−90°) = 0 tan(−90°) =undef
are cos 0° = 1
are
negative
sin 0° = 0 tan 0° = 0
negative
in sin 90° = 1 cos 90° = 0 tan 90° =undef
in
quadrant
quadrant
4
sin 180° = 0 cos 180° = −1 tan 180° = 0
3 sin 270° = −1 cos 270° = 0 tan 270° =undef
sin 360° = 0 cos 360 ° = 1 tan 360° = 0
etc etc etc
 We can do the same thing with 30° to get the values for the angles 150°, 210°, 330° etc (just like we did for 45° on the page above on the
left to get the values for the angles 135°, 225° and 315°). We can also do the same thing with 60° to get the values for the angles
120°, 240°, 300° etc . The unit circle always works for negative angles, just go clockwise!

Worried and wondering how you can remember all this? We only need to remember the trig values for 0°, 30, 45°, 60° and 90°.

Pattern to help remember the table on the right Memorise this table
simplify
0° !"° %&° +"° /"° "° !"° %&° +"° /"°
the values

⟹
456 7 √0 √1 √2 √3 √4 456 C 0 1 √9 :
√3 1
or
2 2 2 2 2 9 √9
2 2
894 7 √4 √3 √2 √1 √0 894 C 1 √3 √9 : 1 0
or
2 2 2 2 2 9 √9
2 2
:;6 7 0 1 √3 √3 √3 0 1 1 ∞
:;6 C √3
√3 √3 √3 1 0 √3
Take note of the pattern in the table above:
• For cos = ,we just reverse the order of >?@ =
• sin = and cos = always have a square root in numerator and
the denominator is always 2.
0,1 2, 3, 4 in the numerator for sin goes to 4,3,2,1,0 for cos
+,- '
• To help remember tan =, you can also just do
./+ '
The colour pattern can also help you to remember AB@ =.

We can use the symmetry of the unit circle as explained on the previous page, to get the trig values for angles larger than 90° and also negative angles.

Graphs of !"# %, '(! %, )*# %:

You’ll also need to know the graphs of trig functions. Knowing the trig values for angles which are multiples of 90° helps to easily remember
the graph. On a trig graph, the C axis represents the angles and the D axis represents the trig values.

Recall, that these values can be summarised in 3 diagrams:

'() E ,-' E ./) E
KLM 0° = 0 ⟹ (0,0) STK 0° = 1 ⟹ (0,1) UVM 0° = 0 ⟹ (0,0)
KLM 90° = 1 ⟹ (90,0) STK 90° = 0 ⟹ (90,0) UVM 90° =undef ⟹ asymptote
KLM 180° = 0 ⟹ (180,0) STK 180° = −1 ⟹ (180, −1) UVM 180° = 0 ⟹ (180,0)
KLM 270° = −1 ⟹ (270, −1) STK 270° = 0 ⟹ (270,0) UVM 270° =undef ⟹ asymptote
KLM 360° = 0 ⟹ (360,0) STK 360 ° = 1 ⟹ (360,0) UVM 360° = 0 ⟹ (360,0)

Once you have the positive D Once you have the positive D Once you have the positive D
values the shape should be values the shape should be easy values the shape should be easy
easy to spot for the negative D to spot for the negative D values to spot for the negative D values
values etc (or you can use the etc (or you can use the diagrams etc (or you can use the diagrams
diagrams clockwise to find the clockwise to find all the negative clockwise to find all the negative
negative values too). values too). values too).

The sin graph is a symmetric The cos graph is symmetric about

about the origin. the E axis (E axis is a mirror line)

The coordinates from the values have been indicated on the graphs below with a .
! = #$% ' ! = ()# '

! = *+% '

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