Trigonometry

The longest side in a right-angled triangle

is called the hypotenuse (hyp).

The side opposite

the angle
is called the
opposite (opp).
xo

The side next to the angle is

called the adjacent (adj).
 hypotenuse
opposite

xo
adjacent

opposite adjacent opposite

sin x  cos x  tan x 
hypotenuse hypotenuse adjacent

A useful memory aid for remembering these three ratios is:

SOHCAHTOA
Finding the length of a side
Example
1 Find the value of x.

x opp

24o
6 cm
adj
opp
tan 24o  replace opp by x and adj by 6
adj
x
tan 24o  multiply both sides by 6
6

x  6  tan 24o

x  2.67 cm (to 3 s.f.)

Example
2 Find the value of x. 73o
hyp
8 cm x adj

adj
cos73o  replace adj by x and hyp by 8
hyp
x
cos 73o  multiply both sides by 8
8

x  8  cos73o

x  2.34 cm (to 3 s.f.)

Example
3 Find the value of x.
hyp
opp x 5 cm

40o

opp
sin 40o  replace opp by x and hyp by 5
hyp
x
sin 40o  multiply both sides by 5
5

x  5  sin 40o

x  3.21 cm (to 3 s.f.)

Example
4 Find the value of x.
15 cm
x adj
hyp
65o

adj
cos 65o  replace adj by 15 and hyp by x
hyp
15
cos 65o  multiply both sides by x
x

x  cos 65o  15 divide both sides by cos 65o

15
x
cos 65o

x  35.5 cm (to 3 s.f.)

Finding an angle
Example
1 Find the value of x.
hyp
opp
5 cm 9 cm

xo

opp
sin x  replace opp by 5 and hyp by 9
hyp
5
sin x  to find x use the sin-1 button on your calculator
9
�5 �
x  sin-1 � �
�9 �

x  33.7o (to 3 s.f.)

Example
2 Find the value of x. xo
hyp
8 cm 5 cm
adj

adj
cos x  replace adj by 5 and hyp by 8
hyp
5
cos x  to find x use the cos-1 button on your calculator
8
�5 �
x  cos-1 � �
�8 �

x  51.3o (to 3 s.f.)

Example
3 Find the value of x.

3 cm
opp
xo
6 cm
adj
opp
tan x  replace opp by 3 and adj by 6
adj
3
tan x  to find x use the tan-1 button on your calculator
6
�3 �
x  tan-1 � �
�6 �

x  26.6o (to 3 s.f.)

Three dimensional
trigonometry
 To find the angle
H G between AG and the H G
E F base you need to E F
5 cm look at triangle AGC. 5 cm

D C D C
6 cm 6 cm
A 7 cm B A 7 cm B

First you need to Now use

G
calculate AC using trigonometry on
Pythagoras on triangle ACG.
5 5 cm
triangle ABC. tan x 
85 x
AC 2  7 2  6 2 � 5 � A 85 C
x  tan-1 � �
AC 2  85 � 85 �
AC  85 x  28.5o (to 3 s.f.)