In mathematics, the trigonometric functions (also called circular functions) are functions of an

angle. They are used to relate the angles of a triangle to the lengths of the sides of a triangle.
Trigonometric functions are important in the study of triangles and modeling periodic
phenomena, among many other applications.

The most familiar trigonometric functions are the sine, cosine, and tangent. In the context of the
standard unit circle with radius 1, where a triangle is formed by a ray originating at the origin
and making some angle with the x-axis, the sine of the angle gives the length of the y-component
(rise) of the triangle, the cosine gives the length of the x-component (run), and the tangent
function gives the slope (y-component divided by the x-component). More precise definitions are
detailed below. Trigonometric functions are commonly defined as ratios of two sides of a right
triangle containing the angle, and can equivalently be defined as the lengths of various line
segments from a unit circle. More modern definitions express them as infinite series or as
solutions of certain differential equations, allowing their extension to arbitrary positive and
negative values and even to complex numbers.

Trigonometric functions have a wide range of uses including computing unknown lengths and
angles in triangles (often right triangles). In this use, trigonometric functions are used, for
instance, in navigation, engineering, and physics. A common use in elementary physics is
resolving a vector into Cartesian coordinates. The sine and cosine functions are also commonly
used to model periodic function phenomena such as sound and light waves, the position and
velocity of harmonic oscillators, sunlight intensity and day length, and average temperature
variations through the year.

In modern usage, there are six basic trigonometric functions, tabulated here with equations that
relate them to one another. Especially with the last four, these relations are often taken as the
definitions of those functions, but one can define them equally well geometrically, or by other
means, and then derive these relations.

Contents
[hide]

 1 Right-angled triangle definitions

o 1.1 Sine, cosine, and tangent
o 1.2 Reciprocal functions
o 1.3 Slope definitions
 2 Unit-circle definitions
 3 Series definitions
o 3.1 Relationship to exponential function and complex numbers
 3.1.1 Complex graphs
 4 Definitions via differential equations
o 4.1 The significance of radians
 5 Identities
o 5.1 Calculus
 o 5.2 Definitions using functional equations
 6 Computation
o 6.1 Special values in trigonometric functions
 7 Inverse functions
 8 Properties and applications
o 8.1 Law of sines
o 8.2 Law of cosines
o 8.3 Law of tangents
o 8.4 Law of cotangents
o 8.5 Other useful properties
 8.5.1 Sine and cosine of sums of angles
o 8.6 Periodic functions
 9 History
 10 See also
 11 Notes
 12 References
 13 External links

[edit] Right-angled triangle definitions

A right triangle always includes a 90° (π/2 radians) angle, here labeled C. Angles A and B may
vary. Trigonometric functions specify the relationships among side lengths and interior angles of
a right triangle.
(Top): Trigonometric function sinθ for selected angles θ, π − θ, π + θ, and 2π − θ in the four
quadrants. (Bottom) Graph of sine function versus angle. Angles from the top panel are
identified.

The notion that there should be some standard correspondence between the lengths of the sides
of a triangle and the angles of the triangle comes as soon as one recognizes that similar triangles
maintain the same ratios between their sides. That is, for any similar triangle the ratio of the
hypotenuse (for example) and another of the sides remains the same. If the hypotenuse is twice
as long, so are the sides. It is these ratios that the trigonometric functions express.

To define the trigonometric functions for the angle A, start with any right triangle that contains
the angle A. The three sides of the triangle are named as follows:

 The hypotenuse is the side opposite the right angle, in this case side h. The hypotenuse is
always the longest side of a right-angled triangle.
 The opposite side is the side opposite to the angle we are interested in (angle A), in this
case side a.
 The adjacent side is the side having both the angles of interest (angle A and right-angle
C), in this case side b.

In ordinary Euclidean geometry, according to the triangle postulate the inside angles of every
triangle total 180° (π radians). Therefore, in a right-angled triangle, the two non-right angles total
90° (π/2 radians), so each of these angles must be in the range of (0°,90°) as expressed in interval
notation. The following definitions apply to angles in this 0° – 90° range. They can be extended
to the full set of real arguments by using the unit circle, or by requiring certain symmetries and
that they be periodic functions. For example, the figure shows sin θ for angles θ, π − θ, π + θ, and
2π − θ depicted on the unit circle (top) and as a graph (bottom). The value of the sine repeats
itself apart from sign in all four quadrants, and if the range of θ is extended to additional
rotations, this behavior repeats periodically with a period 2π.
The trigonometric functions are summarized in the following table and described in more detail
below. The angle θ is the angle between the hypotenuse and the adjacent line – the angle at A in
the accompanying diagram.

Function Abbreviation Description Identities (using radians)

Sine sin

Cosine cos

Tangent tan (or tg)

Cotangent cot (or ctg or ctn)

Secant sec

Cosecant csc (or cosec)

The sine, tangent, and secant functions of an angle constructed geometrically in terms of a unit
circle. The number θ is the length of the curve; thus angles are being measured in radians. The
secant and tangent functions rely on a fixed vertical line and the sine function on a moving
vertical line. ("Fixed" in this context means not moving as θ changes; "moving" means
depending on θ.) Thus, as θ goes from 0 up to a right angle, sin θ goes from 0 to 1, tan θ goes
from 0 to ∞, and sec θ goes from 1 to ∞.

The cosine, cotangent, and cosecant functions of an angle θ constructed geometrically in terms of
a unit circle. The functions whose names have the prefix co- use horizontal lines where the
others use vertical lines.

[edit] Sine, cosine, and tangent

The sine of an angle is the ratio of the length of the opposite side to the length of the hypotenuse.
In our case

Note that this ratio does not depend on size of the particular right triangle chosen, as long as it
contains the angle A, since all such triangles are similar.

The cosine of an angle is the ratio of the length of the adjacent side to the length of the
hypotenuse. In our case

The tangent of an angle is the ratio of the length of the opposite side to the length of the adjacent
side (called so because it can be represented as a line segment tangent to the circle).[1] In our case

The acronyms "SOHCAHTOA" and "OHSAHCOAT" are useful mnemonics for these ratios.
[edit] Reciprocal functions

The remaining three functions are best defined using the above three functions.

The cosecant csc(A), or cosec(A), is the reciprocal of sin(A), i.e. the ratio of the length of the
hypotenuse to the length of the opposite side:

The secant sec(A) is the reciprocal of cos(A), i.e. the ratio of the length of the hypotenuse to the
length of the adjacent side:

The cotangent cot(A) is the reciprocal of tan(A), i.e. the ratio of the length of the adjacent side to
the length of the opposite side:

[edit] Slope definitions

Equivalent to the right-triangle definitions the trigonometric functions can be defined in terms of
the rise, run, and slope of a line segment relative to some horizontal line. The slope is commonly
taught as "rise over run" or rise/run. The three main trigonometric functions are commonly
taught in the order sine, cosine, tangent. With a segment length of 1 (as in a unit circle) the
following correspondence of definitions exists:

1. Sine is first, rise is first. Sine takes an angle and tells the rise when the length of the line
is 1.
2. Cosine is second, run is second. Cosine takes an angle and tells the run when the length
of the line is 1.
3. Tangent is the slope formula that combines the rise and run. Tangent takes an angle and
tells the slope, and tells the rise when the run is 1.

This shows the main use of tangent and arctangent: converting between the two ways of telling
the slant of a line, i.e., angles and slopes. (Note that the arctangent or "inverse tangent" is not to
be confused with the cotangent, which is cos divided by sin.)

While the length of the line segment makes no difference for the slope (the slope does not
depend on the length of the slanted line), it does affect rise and run. To adjust and find the actual
rise and run when the line does not have a length of 1, just multiply the sine and cosine by the
line length. For instance, if the line segment has length 5, the run at an angle of 7° is 5 cos(7°)
[edit] Unit-circle definitions

The unit circle

The six trigonometric functions can also be defined in terms of the unit circle, the circle of radius
one centered at the origin. The unit circle definition provides little in the way of practical
calculation; indeed it relies on right triangles for most angles.

The unit circle definition does, however, permit the definition of the trigonometric functions for
all positive and negative arguments, not just for angles between 0 and π/2 radians.

It also provides a single visual picture that encapsulates at once all the important triangles. From
the Pythagorean theorem the equation for the unit circle is:

In the picture, some common angles, measured in radians, are given. Measurements in the
counterclockwise direction are positive angles and measurements in the clockwise direction are
negative angles.

Let a line through the origin, making an angle of θ with the positive half of the x-axis, intersect
the unit circle. The x- and y-coordinates of this point of intersection are equal to cos θ and sin θ,
respectively.
The triangle in the graphic enforces the formula; the radius is equal to the hypotenuse and has
length 1, so we have sin θ = y/1 and cos θ = x/1. The unit circle can be thought of as a way of
looking at an infinite number of triangles by varying the lengths of their legs but keeping the
lengths of their hypotenuses equal to 1.

Note that these values can easily be memorized in the form

but the angles are not equally spaced.

The values for 15°, 54° and 75° are slightly more complicated.

The sine and cosine functions graphed on the Cartesian plane.

For angles greater than 2π or less than −2π, simply continue to rotate around the circle; sine and
cosine are periodic functions with period 2π:

for any angle θ and any integer k.

The smallest positive period of a periodic function is called the primitive period of the function.

The primitive period of the sine or cosine is a full circle, i.e. 2π radians or 360 degrees.
Above, only sine and cosine were defined directly by the unit circle, but other trigonometric
functions can be defined by:

So :

 The primitive period of the secant, or cosecant is also a full circle, i.e. 2π radians or 360
degrees.
 The primitive period of the tangent or cotangent is only a half-circle, i.e. π radians or 180
degrees.

Trigonometric functions: Sine, Cosine, Tangent, Cosecant (dotted), Secant (dotted), Cotangent
(dotted)

The image at right includes a graph of the tangent function.

 Its θ-intercepts correspond to those of sin(θ) while its undefined values correspond to the
θ-intercepts of cos(θ).
 The function changes slowly around angles of kπ, but changes rapidly at angles close to
(k + 1/2)π.
 The graph of the tangent function also has a vertical asymptote at θ = (k + 1/2)π, the θ-
intercepts of the cosine function, because the function approaches infinity as θ
approaches (k + 1/2)π from the left and minus infinity as it approaches (k + 1/2)π from
the right.
All of the trigonometric functions of the angle θ can be constructed geometrically in terms of a
unit circle centered at O.

Alternatively, all of the basic trigonometric functions can be defined in terms of a unit circle
centered at O (as shown in the picture to the right), and similar such geometric definitions were
used historically.

 In particular, for a chord AB of the circle, where θ is half of the subtended angle, sin(θ) is
AC (half of the chord), a definition introduced in India[2] (see history).
 cos(θ) is the horizontal distance OC, and versin(θ) = 1 − cos(θ) is CD.
 tan(θ) is the length of the segment AE of the tangent line through A, hence the word
tangent for this function. cot(θ) is another tangent segment, AF.
 sec(θ) = OE and csc(θ) = OF are segments of secant lines (intersecting the circle at two
points), and can also be viewed as projections of OA along the tangent at A to the
horizontal and vertical axes, respectively.
 DE is exsec(θ) = sec(θ) − 1 (the portion of the secant outside, or ex, the circle).
 From these constructions, it is easy to see that the secant and tangent functions diverge as
θ approaches π/2 (90 degrees) and that the cosecant and cotangent diverge as θ
approaches zero. (Many similar constructions are possible, and the basic trigonometric
identities can also be proven graphically.[3])

[edit] Series definitions

The sine function (blue) is closely approximated by its Taylor polynomial of degree 7 (pink) for
a full cycle centered on the origin.

Using only geometry and properties of limits, it can be shown that the derivative of sine is cosine
and the derivative of cosine is the negative of sine. (Here, and generally in calculus, all angles
are measured in radians; see also the significance of radians below.) One can then use the theory
of Taylor series to show that the following identities hold for all real numbers x:[4]

These identities are sometimes taken as the definitions of the sine and cosine function. They are
often used as the starting point in a rigorous treatment of trigonometric functions and their
applications (e.g., in Fourier series), since the theory of infinite series can be developed from the
foundations of the real number system, independent of any geometric considerations. The
differentiability and continuity of these functions are then established from the series definitions
alone.

Combining these two series gives Euler's formula: cos x + i sin x = eix.

Other series can be found.[5] For the following trigonometric functions:

 Un is the nth up/down number,
Bn is the nth Bernoulli number, and
En (below) is the nth Euler number.

Tangent

When this series for the tangent function is expressed in a form in which the denominators are
the corresponding factorials, the numerators, called the "tangent numbers", have a combinatorial
interpretation: they enumerate alternating permutations of finite sets of odd cardinality.[6]

Cosecant

Secant

When this series for the secant function is expressed in a form in which the denominators are the
corresponding factorials, the numerators, called the "secant numbers", have a combinatorial
interpretation: they enumerate alternating permutations of finite sets of even cardinality.[7]

Cotangent
From a theorem in complex analysis, there is a unique analytic continuation of this real function
to the domain of complex numbers. They have the same Taylor series, and so the trigonometric
functions are defined on the complex numbers using the Taylor series above.

There is a series representation as partial fraction expansion where just translated reciprocal
functions are summed up, such that the poles of the cotangent function and the reciprocal
functions match:[8]

This identity can be proven with the Herglotz trick.[9] By combining the − n-th with the n-th term,
it can be expressed as an absolutely convergent series:

[edit] Relationship to exponential function and complex numbers

Euler's formula illustrated with the three dimensional helix, starting with the 2-D orthogonal
components of the unit circle, sine and cosine (using θ = t ).

It can be shown from the series definitions[10] that the sine and cosine functions are the imaginary
and real parts, respectively, of the complex exponential function when its argument is purely
imaginary:

This identity is called Euler's formula. In this way, trigonometric functions become essential in
the geometric interpretation of complex analysis. For example, with the above identity, if one
considers the unit circle in the complex plane, parametrized by e ix, and as above, we can
parametrize this circle in terms of cosines and sines, the relationship between the complex
exponential and the trigonometric functions becomes more apparent.

Furthermore, this allows for the definition of the trigonometric functions for complex arguments
z:
where i 2 = −1. The sine and cosine defined by this are entire functions. Also, for purely real x,

It is also sometimes useful to express the complex sine and cosine functions in terms of the real
and imaginary parts of their arguments.

This exhibits a deep relationship between the complex sine and cosine functions and their real
(sin, cos) and hyperbolic real (sinh, cosh) counterparts.

Complex Trigonometric Functions

Complex Analysis. FreeTutorial

Previous theme Content Next theme

1) Definitions
     1.1 Right triangle and unit-circle definitions
     1.2 Definitions via series
     1.3 Definitions via complex exponentials
     1.4 Definitions via differential equations

2) A difference between the real and complex trigonometric functions

     2.1 Relationship to exponential function
     2.2 The complex sine and cosine functions are not bounded

3) Identities
     3.1 Periodic identities
     3.2 Even and odd identities
     3.3 Pythagorean identity
     3.4 The sum and difference formulas
     3.5 The double-angle formulas
     3.6 More identities

4) Calculus

1) Definitions

1.1 Right triangle and unit-circle definitions

The trigonometric functions are most simply defined using the right triangle. But the right

triangle definitions only define the trigonometric functions for angles between 0 and radians.

The six trigonometric functions can also be defined in terms of the unit circle (the circle of
radius one centered at the origin). The unit circle definition permits the definition of the
trigonometric functions for all positive and negative arguments.

Top

1.2 Definitions via series

The complex trigonometric functions can be represented by the power series:

Sin(z) =

Cos(z) =
Other complex trigonometric functions are:

tan(z) =

cot(z) =

sec(z) =

csc(z) =
Top

1.3 Definitions via complex exponentials

The complex trigonometric functions can be defined algebraically in terms of complex

exponentials as:

Sin(z) =

Cos(z) =
 Top

1.4 Definitions via differential equations

Both the sine and cosine functions satisfy the differential equation

y" = - y                              (1)

The sine function is the unique solution satisfying the initial conditions y(0) = 0
and y'(0) = 1
Let y = Sin(z)
Then y' = Cos(z); y" = - Sin(z)
Sin(z) = Sin(z)                   (1)
Initial conditions:

Sin(0) = 0, Sin'(0) = Cos(0) = 1

The cosine function is the unique solution satisfying the initial conditions y(0) =
1 and y'(0) = 0
Let y = Cos(z)
Then y' = - Sin(z); y" = - Cos(z)
Cos(z) = Cos(z)                   (1)
Initial conditions:

Cos(0) = 1, Cos'(0) = -Sin(0) = 0

The tangent function is the unique solution of the nonlinear differential equation

y' = 1 + y2
satisfying the initial conditions y(0) = 0
Let y = tan(z)
Then y' = sec(z)2; y2 = tan(z)2
sec(z)2 = 1 + tan(z)2        (1)
It is an Pythagorean identity.

Initial conditions:

tan(0) = 0
Top

2) A difference between the real and complex trigonometric functions

There is a big difference between the real and complex trigonometric functions:

1) The real trigonometric functions are not related to the exponential function. But complex
trigonometric functions do have Relationship to exponential function

2) The real sine and cosine functions are bounded:

|Sin(x)| 1, |Cos(x)| 1
The complex sine and cosine functions are not bounded if they are defined over the set of all
complex numbers.

Top

2.1 Relationship to exponential function

The main distinction between real and complex trigonometric functions is relationship to
exponential function.

The complex trigonometric functions can be defined algebraically in terms of complex

exponentials as:
Sin(z) =

Cos(z) =
It can be shown from the series definitions that the sine and cosine functions are the imaginary
and real parts, respectively, of the complex exponential function when its argument is purely
imaginary:

This relationship was first noted by Euler and the identity is called Euler's formula.

The relationship between the complex exponential and the trigonometric functions can be
expressed as:

Sin(z) = = -iSinh(iz)

Cos(z) = = Cosh(iz)

Top

2.2 The complex sine and cosine functions are not bounded

There is another distinction between real and complex trigonometric functions. In a case of
complex variables

|Sin(z)| 1 and |Cos(z)| 1 are not true.

For example