Mathematics Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [trigonometry]

Questions about trigonometric functions (both geometric and circular), relationships between lengths and angles in triangles and other topics relating to measuring triangles.

Trigonometry is a branch of mathematics that studies relationships involving lengths and angles of triangles.

Trigonometry is most simply associated with planar right-angle triangles. The applicability to non-right-angle triangles exists, but, since any non-right-angle triangle (on a flat plane) can be bisected to create two right-angle triangles, most problems can be reduced to calculations on right-angle triangles. Thus the majority of applications relate to right-angle triangles.

One exception to this is spherical trigonometry, the study of triangles on spheres, surfaces of constant positive curvature, in elliptic geometry. Trigonometry on surfaces of negative curvature is part of hyperbolic geometry.

Trigonometric identities are equalities that involve trigonometric functions and are true for every single value of the occurring variables. Geometrically, these are identities involving certain functions of one or more angles.

See Wikipedia's list of trigonometric identities.

30390 questions
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How to prove that $\lim\limits_{x\to0}\frac{\sin x}x=1$?

How can one prove the statement $$\lim_{x\to 0}\frac{\sin x}x=1$$ without using the Taylor series of $\sin$, $\cos$ and $\tan$? Best would be a geometrical solution. This is homework. In my math class, we are about to prove that $\sin$ is…
FUZxxl
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A 1400 years old approximation to the sine function by Mahabhaskariya of Bhaskara I

The approximation $$\sin(x) \simeq \frac{16 (\pi -x) x}{5 \pi ^2-4 (\pi -x) x}\qquad (0\leq x\leq\pi)$$ was proposed by Mahabhaskariya of Bhaskara I, a seventh-century Indian mathematician. I wondered how much this could be improved using our…
Claude Leibovici
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207
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8 answers

How can we sum up $\sin$ and $\cos$ series when the angles are in arithmetic progression?

How can we sum up $\sin$ and $\cos$ series when the angles are in arithmetic progression? For example here is the sum of $\cos$ series: $$\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}\cos (a+k \cdot d) =\frac{\sin(n \times \frac{d}{2})}{\sin ( \frac{d}{2} )} \times \cos \biggl(…
Quixotic
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Why do both sine and cosine exist?

Cosine is just a change in the argument of sine, and vice versa. $$\sin(x+\pi/2)=\cos(x)$$ $$\cos(x-\pi/2)=\sin(x)$$ So why do we have both of them? Do they both exist simply for convenience in defining the other trig functions?
Tdonut
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9 answers

Why is $\cos (90)=-0.4$ in WebGL?

I'm a graphical artist who is completely out of my depth on this site. However, I'm dabbling in WebGL (3D software for internet browsers) and trying to animate a bouncing ball. Apparently we can use trigonometry to create nice smooth curves.…
Starkers
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18 answers

How can I understand and prove the "sum and difference formulas" in trigonometry?

The "sum and difference" formulas often come in handy, but it's not immediately obvious that they would be true. \begin{align} \sin(\alpha \pm \beta) &= \sin \alpha \cos \beta \pm \cos \alpha \sin \beta \\ \cos(\alpha \pm \beta) &= \cos \alpha \cos…
Tyler
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117
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15 answers

Ways to evaluate $\int \sec \theta \, \mathrm d \theta$

The standard approach for showing $\int \sec \theta \, \mathrm d \theta = \ln|\sec \theta + \tan \theta| + C$ is to multiply by $\dfrac{\sec \theta + \tan \theta}{\sec \theta + \tan \theta}$ and then do a substitution with $u = \sec \theta + \tan…
Mike Spivey
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8 answers

Compute $\int \frac{\sin(x)}{\sin(x)+\cos(x)}\mathrm dx$

I'm having trouble computing the integral: $$\int \frac{\sin(x)}{\sin(x)+\cos(x)}\mathrm dx.$$ I hope that it can be expressed in terms of elementary functions. I've tried simple substitutions such as $u=\sin(x)$ and $u=\cos(x)$, but it was not very…
Michael Li
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6 answers

How deep is the liquid in a half-full hemisphere?

I have a baking recipe that calls for $1/2$ tsp of vanilla extract, but I only have a $1$ tsp measuring spoon available, since the dishwasher is running. The measuring spoon is very nearly a perfect hemisphere. My question is, to what depth (as a…
Holly
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86
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3 answers

Ramanujan log-trigonometric integrals

I discovered the following conjectured identity numerically while studying a family of related integrals. Let's set $$ R^{+}:= \frac{2}{\pi}\int\limits_{0}^{\pi/2}\sqrt[\normalsize{8}]{x^2 + \ln^2\!\cos x} \sqrt{…
Olivier Oloa
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4 answers

Prove that $\prod_{k=1}^{n-1}\sin\frac{k \pi}{n} = \frac{n}{2^{n-1}}$

Using $\text{n}^{\text{th}}$ root of unity $$\large\left(e^{\frac{2ki\pi}{n}}\right)^{n} = 1$$ Prove that $$\prod_{k=1}^{n-1}\sin\frac{k \pi}{n} = \frac{n}{2^{n-1}}$$
Ali_ilA
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10 answers

Evaluating $\int_0^\infty \sin x^2\, dx$ with real methods?

I have seen the Fresnel integral $$\int_0^\infty \sin x^2\, dx = \sqrt{\frac{\pi}{8}}$$ evaluated by contour integration and other complex analysis methods, and I have found these methods to be the standard way to evaluate this integral. I was…
Argon
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8 answers

How to prove this identity $\pi=\sum\limits_{k=-\infty}^{\infty}\left(\frac{\sin(k)}{k}\right)^{2}\;$?

How to prove this identity? $$\pi=\sum_{k=-\infty}^{\infty}\left(\dfrac{\sin(k)}{k}\right)^{2}\;$$ I found the above interesting identity in the book $\bf \pi$ Unleashed. Does anyone knows how to prove it? Thanks.
Neves
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9 answers

Do "Parabolic Trigonometric Functions" exist?

The parametric equation $$\begin{align*} x(t) &= \cos t\\ y(t) &= \sin t \end{align*}$$ traces the unit circle centered at the origin ($x^2+y^2=1$). Similarly, $$\begin{align*} x(t) &= \cosh t\\ y(t) &= \sinh t \end{align*}$$ draws the right part…
Argon
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78
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4 answers

Integral $\int_1^\infty\operatorname{arccot}\left(1+\frac{2\pi}{\operatorname{arcoth}x-\operatorname{arccsc}x}\right)\frac{\mathrm dx}{\sqrt{x^2-1}}$

Consider the following integral: $$\mathcal{I}=\int_1^\infty\operatorname{arccot}\left(1+\frac{2\,\pi}{\operatorname{arcoth}x\,-\,\operatorname{arccsc}x}\right)\frac{\mathrm dx}{\sqrt{x^2-1}}\,,$$ where $\operatorname{arccsc}$ is the inverse…
Vladimir Reshetnikov
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