L1 – 4.

1 Radian Measure
MHF4U
Jensen

Part 1: What is a Radian?

Angles are commonly measured in degrees. However, in mathematics and physics, there are many
applications in which expressing an angle as a pure number, without units, is more convenient than using
degrees.

When measuring in radians, the size of an angle is expressed in terms of the length
$
of an arc, 𝑎, that subtends the angle, 𝜃, where 𝜃 = .
%

1 Radian is defined as the size of an angle that is subtended by an arc with a length
equal to the radius of the circle.
$ %
Therefore, when the arc length and radius are equal, 𝜃 = = = 1 radian
% %

How many radians are in a full circle? Or in other words, how many
times can an arc length equal to the radius fit around the
circumference of a circle?

Remember: 𝐶 = 2𝜋𝑟

So if we use the full circumference of the circle for the arc length,
$ +,%
𝜃= = = 2𝜋 radians
% %

Part 2: Switching Between Degrees and Radians

The key relationship you need to know in order to switch between degrees and radians is:
360° = 2𝜋 radians

, 123
1 degree = 123 radians 1 radian = degrees
,

To switch from degrees to radians, To switch from radians to degrees,

multiply by multiply by
𝜋 180
180 𝜋
Example 1: Start by converting the following common degree measures to radians

a) 180° b) 90° c) 60°

𝜋 𝜋 𝜋
= 180° × = 90° × = 60° ×
180 180 180
, ,
= 𝜋 radians = + radians = 8 radians

d) 45° e) 30° f) 1°

𝜋 𝜋 𝜋
= 45° × = 30° × = 1° ×
180 180 180
, , ,
= ; radians = < radians = 123 radians
Example 2: Convert each of the following degree measures to radian measures

a) 225° b) 80° c) 450°

𝜋 𝜋 𝜋
= 225° × = 80° × = 450° ×
180 180 180
=, ;, =,
= ;
radians = @
radians = +
radians

Example 3: Convert each of the following radian measures to degree measures

+, @,
a) radians b) radians c) 1 radian
8 ;

2𝜋 180 9𝜋 180 180

= × = × =1×
3 𝜋 4 𝜋 𝜋

= 120° = 405° = 57.296°

Part 3: Application

Example 4: Suzette chooses a camel to ride on a carousel. The camel is located 9 m from the center of the
=,
carousel. It the carousel turns through an angle of , determine the length of the arc travelled by the camel,
<
to the nearest tenth of a meter.
$
𝜃=
%

𝑎 = 𝜃𝑟

5𝜋
𝑎= 9
6

𝑎 ≅ 23.6 m
Part 4: Special Triangles Using Radian Measures

Draw the 45-45-90 triangle Draw the 30-60-90 triangle

√2
1 2 √3

1 1

Also, you will need to remember the UNIT CIRLCE which is a circle that has a radius of 1. Use the unit circle to
write expressions for sin 𝜃, cos 𝜃, and tan 𝜃 in terms of 𝑥, 𝑦, and 𝑟.

𝑦 𝑦
sin 𝜃 = = =𝑦
𝑟 1

𝑥 𝑥
cos 𝜃 = = =𝑥
𝑟 1

𝑦
tan 𝜃 =
𝑥

On the unit circle, the sine and cosine functions take a simple form:

sin 𝜃 = 𝑦

cos 𝜃 = 𝑥

The value of sin 𝜃 is the 𝒚-coordinate of each point on the unit circle

The value of cos 𝜃 is the 𝒙-coordinate of each point on the unit circle

Therefore, we can use the points where the terminal arm intersects the unit circle to get the sine and cosine
ratios just by looking at the 𝑦 and 𝑥 co-ordinates of the points.
Example 5: Fill out chart of ratios using special triangles and the unit circle

𝜋 𝜋 𝜋 𝜋 3𝜋
0, 2𝜋 𝜋
6 4 3 2 2

1 1 3
sin 𝑥 0 1 0 -1
2 2 2
3 1 1
cos 𝑥 1 0 -1 0
2 2 2
1
tan 𝑥 0 1 3 undefined 0 undefined
3