Trig identities

Sums to products

Pythagoras
sin2 A + cos2 A = 1
sec2 A = 1 + tan2 A
csc2 A = 1 + cot2 A

sin A + sin B
sin A sin B
cos A + cos B
cos A cos B

=
=
=
=

2 sin A+B
cos AB
2
2
A+B
2 cos 2 sin AB
2
2 cos A+B
cos AB
2
2
AB
2 sin A+B
sin
2
2

Sums of angles
sin(A B) = sin A cos B cos A sin B
cos(A B) = cos A cos B sin A sin B
tan Atan B
tan(A B) = 1tan
A tan B

Double angles

Products to sums
2 sin A cos B = sin(A + B) + sin(A B)
2 cos A cos B = cos(A + B) + cos(A B)
2 sin A sin B = cos(A B) cos(A + B)

Polar form

sin 2A = 2 sin A cos A

cos 2A = cos2 A sin2 A
= 2 cos2 A 1
= 1 2 sin2 A
2 tan A
tan 2A = 1tan
2A

a sin x + b cos x = R sin(x + )

where:
R=

Triple angles

a2 + b2 , sin = b/R, cos = a/R

Complex exponent form

sin 3A = 3 sin A 4 sin3 A

cos 3A = 4 cos3 A 3 cos A
Atan3 A
tan 3A = 3 tan
13 tan2 A

cos x =
sin x =

eix +eix
2
eix eix
2i

eix = cos x + i sin x

e
= cos x i sin x

Tan half-angle formulae

ix

If t = tan 2 , then:
sin =

2t
,
1+t2

cos =

1t2
,
1+t2

and d =

2dt
1+t2

Logarithms
Definition
If y = ax then x = loga y (log y to base a).
loge w may be written ln w (or sometimes log w).

Properties
log(ab/c) = log a + log b log c
log(xa ) = a log x

log( n y) = (log y)/n

Change of base
logb a =

logc a
logc b

Complex form
log(a + ib) = log

b
a2 + b2 + i tan1
a

Complex numbers
p
The complex number z = x + iy = r(cos + i sin ) has modulus |z| = x2 + y 2 = r and
y
x
argument arg z = such that sin = |z|
and cos = |z|
. (x, y, r, are real numbers.)

Uncertainty
Expectation of a random variable

xf (x)dx

E(X) =

Expectation of a function of a random variable

Z
E(g(X)) =

g(x)f (x)dx

Definition of a cumulative density function

Z

f (t)dt

F (x) =

Bayes Theorem
Pr(A|B) =

Pr(B|A)Pr(A)
Pr(B|A)Pr(A) + Pr(B|not A)Pr(not A)

Probability distributions
Distribution
Uniform
Exponential
Normal

Probability density function

Range
Parameters Mean () Variance ( 2 )
(ba)2
1
a+b
fX (x) = ba
axb
a, b
2
12
1
1
fX (x) = ex
x0

2
x 2
1
1
fX (x) = 2
e 2 ( )
x
,

Differentiation & Integration

Maclaurins series:
2
k
f (x) = f (0) + xf 0 (0) + x2! f 00 (0) + . . . + xk! f (k) (0) + Rk+1
Taylors series:
2
k
f (x) = f (a) + (x a)f 0 (a) + (xa)
f 00 (a) + . . . + (xa)
f (k) (a) + Rk+1
2!
k!
Binomial series*:
(1 + x)n = 1 + nx + n(n1)
x2 + . . . + n(n1)(n2)...(nr+1)
xr . . .
2!
r!
* If n is a positive integer, the series is finite and hence convergent for all x; otherwise, the
series is only convergent for |x| < 1. Note that the coefficient of xr is n Cr when n is an integer.

Power series expansions

2

ex = 1 + x + x2! + x3! + . . . + xn! + . . .

n x2n+1
3
5
7
+ ...
sin x = x x3! + x5! x7! + . . . + (1)
(2n+1)!
cos x
tan x
arcsin x
arctan x
loge (1 + x)

=
=
=
=
=

n 2n

(all x)
(all x)

x
1 x2! + x4! x6! + . . . + (1)
+ ...
(all x)
(2n)!
x3
2x5
17x7
x + 3 + 15 + 315 + . . .
(|x| < 2 )
3
x5
x2n+1
x + 12 x3 + 13
+ . . . + 135...(2n1)
+ ...
(|x| < 1)
24 5
246...(2n) 2n+1
x3
x5
x7
n x2n+1
x 3 + 5 7 + . . . + (1) 2n+1 + . . .
(|x| < 1)
x2
x3
x4
n xn+1
x 2 + 3 4 + . . . + (1) n+1 + . . .
(1 < x 1)

Table of derivatives

Table of integrals

function
derivative
f (x)g(x)
f 0 (x)g(x) + f (x)g 0 (x)
0
f (x)
(x)g 0 (x)
(g 6= 0) f (x)g(x)f
g(x)
g(x)2
xn
nxn1
1
x12
x
1
ln x
x
1
loga x
x ln a
ecx
cecx
x
a
(a > 0) ax ln a
sin x
cos x
cos x
sin x
tan x
sec2 x
csc x
csc x cot x
sec x
sec x tan x
1
arcsin x
1x2
1
arccos x
1x
2
1
arctan x
1+x2

function
integral
n+1
n
x
(n 6= 1) xn+1
1
ln |x|
x
x
e
ex
0
f (x)
ln |f (x)|
f (x)
sin x
cos x
cos x
sin x
tan x
ln |sec x|
csc x
ln |csc x cot
 x|
= ln tan x2 
sec x
ln |sec x + tan x| 
= ln tan( 4 + x2 )
cot x
ln |sin x|
1
1
(|x| < a) 2a
ln a+x
a2 x2
ax
1
1
(|x| > a) 2a
ln xa
x2 a2
x+a
x
1
1
arctan
a2 +x2
a
a
x
1
(|x|
<
a)
arcsin
a
a2 x2
1
ln(x
+
x 2 + a2 )
a2 +x2



1
(|x| > a) ln x + x2 a2 
2
2
x a

Note: an arbitrary constant may be added to any indefinite integral.

Numerical methods
f 0 (x)
f 0 (x)
f 0 (x)
f 00 (x)

f (x+h)f (x)
h
f (x)f (xh)
h
f (x+h)f (xh)
2h
f (x+h)2f (x)+f (xh)
h2

(first forward
(first backward
(first central
(second forward

difference)
difference)
difference)
difference)

Eulers method
To solve y 0 = f (x, y) given initial point (x0 , y0 ) and step length h (i.e. xn = x0 + nh):
yn+1 = yn + hf (xn , yn )

n = 0, 1, 2, . . .

Integration by parts
Z

dv
u dx = uv
dx

Z
v

du
dx
dx

Integrating factor method

dy
dx

+ p(x)y = r(x) has solution y = eh(x)

eh(x) r(x)dx, where h(x) =

p(x)dx.

Partial fractions
If p(x) is a polynomial of degree lower than that of the denominator, a, b, c, . . . are given
constants and A, B, C, . . . are constants to be determined:
Simplest form:
A
B
C
p(x)
=
+
+
+ ...
(x a)(x b)(x c) . . .
xa xb xc
Repeated factors:
p(x)
B1
B2
A
B3
+
+
=
+
(x a)(x b)3
x a x b (x b)2 (x b)3
Irreducible quadratic factors:
A
Bx + C
p(x)
=
+
(x a)(x2 + bx + c)
x a x2 + bx + c
The cover-up rule: Take the value of x found by putting a linear denominator factor
equal to zero; the numerator constant will be obtained by substituting this value into the LHS
expression but with the relevant factor covered up (i.e. deleted). Where there are repeated
linear factors this process will give the numerator constant for the denominator of highest
degree (e.g. B3 in the example above).

Vectors
A vector is usually printed in boldface type v or in handwriten form with a lower tilde: v

It is described geometrically as a directed length, e.g. or in algebraic terms as a set of

components:


a
a

b
b
ai + bj + ck
or
or
c
c

The length (|v|) of vector v is given by a2 + b2 + c2 .

The dot product or inner product of two vectors v = ai + bj + ck and w = pi + qj + rk is
a scalar written v w whose value is |v| |w| cos = ap + bq + cr, where is the angle between
the two vector directions.
The cross product of two vectors is a vector written v w with magnitude |v| |w| sin and
direction both v and w (with right-hand orientation):

a
p
br cq
v w = b q = cp ar
c
r
aq bp


v.
The projection of u onto v is given by p = uv
vv

Matrices
2x2 matrix inverse


1

a b
c d

2x2 matrix determinant



d c

= 

b a
a b 
 c d



a b
det
= ad bc
c d