trigonometry

—trigonometric /trig'euh neuh me"trik/, trigonometrical, adj. —trigonometrically, adv.

/trig'euh nom"i tree/, n.

the branch of mathematics that deals with the relations between the sides and angles of plane or spherical triangles, and the calculations based on them.

[1605-15; < NL trigonometria; see TRIGON, -O-, -METRY]

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Mathematical discipline dealing with the relationships between the sides and angles of triangles.

Literally, it means triangle measurement, though its applications extend far beyond geometry. It emerged as a rigorous discipline in the 15th century, when the demand for accurate surveying techniques and navigational methods led to its use for the "solution" of right triangles, or the calculation of the lengths of two sides of a right triangle given one of its acute angles and the length of one side. The solution can be found by using ratios in the form of the trigonometric functions.

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Introduction

 the branch of mathematics concerned with specific functions of angles and their application to calculations. There are six functions of an angle commonly used in trigonometry. Their names and abbreviations are sine (sin), cosine (cos), tangent (tan), cotangent (cot), secant (sec), and cosecant (csc). These six trigonometric functions in relation to a right triangle are displayed in the figure—>. For example, the triangle contains an angle A, and the ratio of the side opposite to A and the side opposite to the right angle (the hypotenuse) is called the sine of A, or sin A; the other trigonometry functions are defined similarly. These functions are properties of the angle A independent of the size of the triangle, and calculated values were tabulated for many angles before computers made trigonometry tables (trigonometry table) obsolete. Trigonometric functions (trigonometry) are used in obtaining unknown angles and distances from known or measured angles in geometric figures.

      Trigonometry developed from a need to compute angles and distances in such fields as astronomy, map making, surveying, and artillery range finding. Problems involving angles and distances in one plane are covered in plane trigonometry (trigonometry). Applications to similar problems in more than one plane of three-dimensional space are considered in spherical trigonometry (trigonometry).

History of trigonometry

Classical trigonometry

      The word trigonometry comes from the Greek words trigonon (“triangle”) and metron (“to measure”). Until about the 16th century, trigonometry was chiefly concerned with computing the numerical values of the missing parts of a triangle (or any shape that can be dissected into triangles) when the values of other parts were given. For example, if the lengths of two sides of a triangle and the measure of the enclosed angle are known, the third side and the two remaining angles can be calculated. Such calculations distinguish trigonometry from geometry, which mainly investigates qualitative relations. Of course, this distinction is not always absolute: the Pythagorean theorem, for example, is a statement about the lengths of the three sides in a right triangle and is thus quantitative in nature. Still, in its original form, trigonometry was by and large an offspring of geometry; it was not until the 16th century that the two became separate branches of mathematics.

Ancient Egypt and the Mediterranean world

 Several ancient civilizations—in particular, the Egyptian, Babylonian, Hindu, and Chinese—possessed a considerable knowledge of practical geometry, including some concepts that were a prelude to trigonometry. The Rhind papyrus, an Egyptian (Egypt, ancient) collection of 84 problems in arithmetic, algebra, and geometry dating from about 1800 BC, contains five problems dealing with the seked. A close analysis of the text, with its accompanying figures, reveals that this word means the slope of an incline—essential knowledge for huge construction projects such as the pyramids. For example, problem 56 asks: “If a pyramid is 250 cubits high and the side of its base is 360 cubits long, what is its seked?” The solution is given as 5¹/₂₅ palms per cubit; and since one cubit equals 7 palms, this fraction is equivalent to the pure ratio ¹⁸/₂₅. This is actually the “run-to-rise” ratio of the pyramid in question—in effect, the cotangent of the angle between the base and face (see the figure—>). It shows that the Egyptians had at least some knowledge of the numerical relations in a triangle, a kind of “proto-trigonometry.”

  Trigonometry in the modern sense began with the Greeks (ancient Greek civilization). Hipparchus (c. 190–120 BC) was the first to construct a table of values for a trigonometric function. He considered every triangle—planar or spherical—as being inscribed in a circle, so that each side becomes a chord (that is, a straight line that connects two points on a curve or surface, as shown by the inscribed triangle ABC in the figure—>). To compute the various parts of the triangle, one has to find the length of each chord as a function of the central angle that subtends it—or, equivalently, the length of a chord as a function of the corresponding arc width. This became the chief task of trigonometry for the next several centuries. As an astronomer, Hipparchus was mainly interested in spherical triangles, such as the imaginary triangle formed by three stars on the celestial sphere, but he was also familiar with the basic formulas of plane trigonometry. In Hipparchus's time these formulas were expressed in purely geometric terms as relations between the various chords and the angles (or arcs) that subtend them; the modern symbols for the trigonometric functions were not introduced until the 17th century. (See the table—> of common trigonometry formulas.)

 The first major ancient work on trigonometry to reach Europe intact after the Dark Ages was the Almagest by Ptolemy (c. AD 100–170). He lived in Alexandria, the intellectual centre of the Hellenistic world, but little else is known about him. Although Ptolemy wrote works on mathematics, geography, and optics, he is chiefly known for the Almagest, a 13-book compendium on astronomy that became the basis for mankind's world picture until the heliocentric system of Nicolaus Copernicus (Copernicus, Nicolaus) began to supplant Ptolemy's geocentric system in the mid-16th century. In order to develop this world picture—the essence of which was a stationary Earth around which the Sun, Moon, and the five known planets move in circular orbits—Ptolemy had to use some elementary trigonometry. Chapters 10 and 11 of the first book of the Almagest deal with the construction of a table of chords, in which the length of a chord in a circle is given as a function of the central angle that subtends it, for angles ranging from 0° to 180° at intervals of one-half degree. This is essentially a table of sines, which can be seen by denoting the radius r, the arc A, and the length of the subtended chord c (see the figure—>), to obtain c = 2r sin ^A/₂. Because Ptolemy used the Babylonian sexagesimal numerals and numeral systems (base 60), he did his computations with a standard circle of radius r = 60 units, so that c = 120 sin ^A/₂. Thus, apart from the proportionality factor 120, his was a table of values of sin ^A/₂ and therefore (by doubling the arc) of sin A. With the help of his table Ptolemy improved on existing geodetic measures of the world and refined Hipparchus' model of the motions of the heavenly bodies.

India and the Islamic world

      The next major contribution to trigonometry came from India. In the sexagesimal system, multiplication or division by 120 (twice 60) is analogous to multiplication or division by 20 (twice 10) in the decimal system. Thus, rewriting Ptolemy's formula as ^c/₁₂₀ = sin B, where B = ^A/₂, the relation expresses the half-chord as a function of the arc B that subtends it—precisely the modern sine function. The first table of sines is found in the Āryabhaṭīya. Its author, Āryabhaṭa I (Aryabhata I) (c. 475–550), used the word ardha-jya for half-chord, which he sometimes turned around to jya-ardha (“chord-half”); in due time he shortened it to jya or jiva. Later, when Muslim scholars translated this work into Arabic, they retained the word jiva without translating its meaning. In Semitic languages words consist mostly of consonants, the pronunciation of the missing vowels being understood by common usage. Thus jiva could also be pronounced as jiba or jaib, and this last word in Arabic means “fold” or “bay.” When the Arab translation was later translated into Latin, jaib became sinus, the Latin word for bay. The word sinus first appeared in the writings of Gherardo of Cremona (c. 1114–87), who translated many of the Greek texts, including the Almagest, into Latin. Other writers followed, and soon the word sinus, or sine, was used in the mathematical literature throughout Europe. The abbreviated symbol sin was first used in 1624 by Edmund Gunter (Gunter, Edmund), an English minister and instrument maker. The notations for the five remaining trigonometric functions were introduced shortly thereafter.

      During the Middle Ages, while Europe was plunged into darkness, the torch of learning was kept alive by Arab and Jewish (Jew) scholars living in Spain, Mesopotamia, and Persia. The first table of tangents and cotangents was constructed around 860 by Ḥabash al-Ḥāsib (“the Calculator”), who wrote on astronomy and astronomical instruments. Another Arab astronomer, al-Bāttāni (Battānī, al-) (c. 858–929), gave a rule for finding the elevation θ of the Sun above the horizon in terms of the length s of the shadow cast by a vertical gnomon of height h. (For more on the gnomon and timekeeping, see sundial.) Al-Bāttāni's rule, s = h sin (90° − θ)/sin θ, is equivalent to the formula s = h cot θ. Based on this rule he constructed a “table of shadows”—essentially a table of cotangents—for each degree from 1° to 90°. It was through al-Bāttāni's work that the Hindu half-chord function—equivalent to the modern sine—became known in Europe.

Passage to Europe

 Until the 16th century it was chiefly spherical trigonometry that interested scholars—a consequence of the predominance of astronomy among the natural sciences. The first definition of a spherical triangle is contained in Book 1 of the Sphaerica, a three-book treatise by Menelaus of Alexandria (c. AD 100) in which Menelaus developed the spherical equivalents of Euclid's propositions for planar triangles. A spherical triangle was understood to mean a figure formed on the surface of a sphere by three arcs of great circles, that is, circles whose centres coincide with the centre of the sphere (as shown in the animation—>). There are several fundamental differences between planar and spherical triangles; for example, two spherical triangles whose angles are equal in pairs are congruent (identical in size as well as in shape), whereas they are only similar (identical in shape) for the planar case. Also, the sum of the angles of a spherical triangle is always greater than 180°, in contrast to the planar case where the angles always sum to exactly 180°.

 Several Arab scholars, notably Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (Ṭūsī, Naṣīr al-Dīn al-) (1201–74) and al-Bāttāni, continued to develop spherical trigonometry and brought it to its present form. Ṭūsī was the first (c. 1250) to write a work on trigonometry independently of astronomy. But the first modern book devoted entirely to trigonometry appeared in the Bavarian city of Nürnberg in 1533 under the title On Triangles of Every Kind. Its author was the astronomer Regiomontanus (1436–76). On Triangles contains all the theorems needed to solve triangles, planar or spherical—although these theorems are expressed in verbal form, as symbolic algebra had yet to be invented. In particular, the law of sines (see the table—>) is stated in essentially the modern way. On Triangles was greatly admired by future generations of scientists; the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (Copernicus, Nicolaus) (1473–1543) studied it thoroughly, and his annotated copy survives.

      The final major development in classical trigonometry was the invention of logarithms (logarithm) by the Scottish mathematician John Napier (Napier, John) in 1614. His tables of logarithms greatly facilitated the art of numerical computation—including the compilation of trigonometry tables (trigonometry table)—and were hailed as one of the greatest contributions to science.

Modern trigonometry

From geometric to analytic trigonometry

      In the 16th century trigonometry began to change its character from a purely geometric discipline to an algebraic-analytic subject. Two developments spurred this transformation: the rise of symbolic algebra, pioneered by the French mathematician François Viète (Viète, François, Seigneur De La Bigotiere) (1540–1603), and the invention of analytic geometry by two other Frenchmen, Pierre de Fermat (Fermat, Pierre de) and René Descartes (Descartes, René). Viète showed that the solution of many algebraic equations could be expressed by the use of trigonometric expressions. For example, the equation x³ = 1 has the three solutions:

● x = 1,

● cos 120° + i sin 120° = ^{−1 + i√3}/₂, and

● cos 240° + i sin 240° = ^{−1 − i√3}/₂.

      (Here i is the symbol for √(−1) , the “imaginary unit (imaginary number).”) That trigonometric expressions may appear in the solution of a purely algebraic equation was a novelty in Viète's time; he used it to advantage in a famous encounter between King Henry IV (Henry IV) of France and Netherlands' ambassador to France. The latter spoke disdainfully of the poor quality of French mathematicians and challenged the king with a problem posed by Adriaen van Roomen, professor of mathematics and medicine at the University of Louvain (Belgium), to solve a certain algebraic equation of degree 45. The king summoned Viète, who immediately found one solution and on the following day came up with 22 more.

  Viète was also the first to legitimize the use of infinite (infinity) processes in mathematics. In 1593 he discovered the infinite product,

²/_π = ^√2/₂ ∙ ^{√((2 + √2))} /₂ ∙ ^{√((2 +  √((2 + √2)) ))} /₂⋯,

which is regarded as one of the most beautiful formulas in mathematics for its recursive pattern. By computing more and more terms, one can use this formula to approximate the value of π to any desired accuracy. In 1671 James Gregory (Gregory, James) (1638–75) found the power series (see the table—>) for the inverse tangent function (arc tan, or tan⁻¹), from which he got, by letting x = 1, the formula

^π/₄ = 1 − ¹/₃ + ¹/₅ − ¹/₇ + ⋯,

which demonstrated a remarkable connection between π and the integers. Although the series converged too slowly for a practical computation of π (it would require 628 terms to obtain just two accurate decimal places). This was soon followed by Isaac Newton (Newton, Sir Isaac)'s (1642–1727) discovery of the power series for sine and cosine (see the table—>). Recent research, however, has brought to light that some of these formulas were already known, in verbal form, by the Indian astronomer Madhava (c. 1340–1425).

      The gradual unification of trigonometry and algebra—and in particular the use of complex numbers (complex number) (numbers of the form x + iy, where x and y are real numbers and i = √(−1) ) in trigonometric expressions—was completed in the 18th century. In 1722 Abraham de Moivre (Moivre, Abraham de) (1667–1754) derived, in implicit form, the famous formula

(cos ø + i sin ø) n = cos nø + i sin nø,

which allows one to find the nth root of any complex number. It was the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler (Euler, Leonhard) (1707–83), though, who fully incorporated complex numbers into trigonometry. Euler's formula e^iø = cos ø + i sin ø, where e  2.71828 is the base of natural logarithms, appeared in 1748 in his great work Introductio in analysin infinitorum—although Roger Cotes already knew the formula in its inverse form øi = log (cos ø + i sin ø) in 1714. Substituting into this formula the value ø = π, one obtains e^iπ = cos π + i sin π = −1 + 0i = −1 or equivalently, e^iπ + 1 = 0. This most intriguing of all mathematical formulas contains the additive and multiplicative identities (0 and 1, respectively), the two irrational numbers that occur most frequently in the physical world (π and e), and the imaginary unit (i), and it also employs the basic operations of addition and exponentiation—hence its great aesthetic appeal. Finally, by combining his formula with its companion formula

e^−iø = cos (−ø) + i sin (−ø) = cos ø − i sin ø,

Euler obtained the expressions

cos ø = ^{eiø + e−iø}/₂ and

sin ø = ^{eiø − e−iø}/_2i,

which are the basis of modern analytic trigonometry.

Application to science

 While these developments shifted trigonometry away from its original connection to triangles, the practical aspects of the subject were not neglected. The 17th and 18th centuries saw the invention of numerous mechanical devices—from accurate clocks and navigational tools to musical instruments of superior quality and greater tonal range—all of which required at least some knowledge of trigonometry. A notable application was the science of artillery—and in the 18th century it was a science. Galileo Galilei (Galileo) (1564–1642) discovered that any motion—such as that of a projectile under the force of gravity—can be resolved into two components, one horizontal and the other vertical, and that these components can be treated independently of one another. This discovery led scientists to the formula for the range of a cannonball when its muzzle velocity v₀ (the speed at which it leaves the cannon) and the angle of elevation A of the cannon are given. The theoretical range, in the absence of air resistance, is given by

R = ^v02 sin2A/_g,

where g is the acceleration due to gravity (about 9.81 metres/second²). This formula shows that, for a given muzzle velocity, the range depends solely on A; it reaches its maximum value when A = 45° and falls off symmetrically on either side of 45°. (See the animation—>.) These facts, of course, had been known empirically for many years, but their theoretical explanation was a novelty in Galileo's time.

      Another practical aspect of trigonometry that received a great deal of attention during this time period was surveying. The method of triangulation was first suggested in 1533 by the Dutch mathematician Gemma Frisius (1508–55): one chooses a base line of known length, and from its endpoints the angles of sight to a remote object are measured. The distance to the object from either endpoint can then be calculated by using elementary trigonometry. The process is then repeated with the new distances as base lines, until the entire area to be surveyed is covered by a network of triangles. The method was first carried out on a large scale by another Dutchman, Willebrord van Roijen Snell (Snell, Willebrord van Roijen) (1581–1626), who surveyed a stretch of 130 km (80 miles) in Holland, using 33 triangles. The French government, under the leadership of the astronomer Jean Picard (Picard, Jean) (1620–82), undertook to triangulate the entire country, a task that was to take over a century and involve four generations of the Cassini family (Gian (Cassini, Gian Domenico), Jacques (Cassini, Jacques), César-François (Cassini de Thury, César-François), and Dominique (Cassini, Dominique, comte de)) of astronomers. The British undertook an even more ambitious task—the survey of the entire subcontinent of India. Known as the Great Trigonometric Survey, it lasted from 1800 to 1913 and culminated with the discovery of the tallest mountain on Earth—Peak XV, or Mount Everest (Everest, Mount).

 Concurrent with these developments, 18th-century scientists also turned their attention to aspects of the trigonometric functions that arose from their periodicity. If the cosine and sine functions are defined as the projections on the x- and y-axes, respectively, of a point moving on a unit circle (a circle with its centre at the origin and a radius of 1), then these functions will repeat their values every 360°, or 2π radians. Hence the importance of the sine and cosine functions in describing periodic phenomena—the vibrations of a violin string, the oscillations of a clock pendulum, or the propagation of electromagnetic waves. These investigations reached a climax when Joseph Fourier (Fourier, Joseph, Baron) (1768–1830) discovered that almost any periodic function can be expressed as an infinite sum of sine and cosine functions, whose periods are integral divisors of the period of the original function. For example, the “sawtooth” function, as shown in the animation—>, can be written as

2(sin x − ^{sin 2x}/₂ + ^{sin 3x}/₃ − ⋯);

as successive terms in the series are added, an ever-better approximation to the sawtooth function results. These trigonometric or Fourier series (analysis) have found numerous applications in almost every branch of science, from optics and acoustics to radio transmission and earthquake analysis. Their extension to nonperiodic functions played a key role in the development of quantum mechanics in the early years of the 20th century. Trigonometry, by and large, matured with Fourier's theorem; further developments (e.g., generalization of Fourier series to other orthogonal, but nonperiodic, functions) are well beyond the scope of this encyclopedia article.

Eli Maor

Principles of trigonometry

Trigonometric functions

 A somewhat more general concept of angle is required for trigonometry than for geometry. An angle A with vertex at V, the initial side of which is VP and the terminal side of which is VQ, is indicated in the figure—> by the solid circular arc. This angle is generated by the continuous counterclockwise rotation of a line segment about the point V from the position VP to the position VQ. A second angle A′ with the same initial and terminal sides, indicated in the figure by the broken circular arc, is generated by the clockwise rotation of the line segment from the position VP to the position VQ. Angles are considered positive when generated by counterclockwise rotations, negative when generated by clockwise rotations. The positive angle A and the negative angle A′ in the figure are generated by less than one complete rotation of the line segment about the point V. All other positive and negative angles with the same initial and terminal sides are obtained by rotating the line segment one or more complete turns before coming to rest at VQ.

      Numerical values can be assigned to angles by selecting a unit of measure. The most common units are the degree and the radian. There are 360° in a complete revolution, with each degree further divided into 60′ (minutes) and each minute divided into 60″ (seconds). In theoretical work, the radian is the most convenient unit. It is the angle at the centre of a circle that intercepts an arc equal in length to the radius; simply put, there are 2π radians in one complete revolution. From these definitions, it follows that 1° = ^π/₁₈₀ radians.

 Equal angles are angles with the same measure; i.e., they have the same sign and the same number of degrees. Any angle −A has the same number of degrees as A but is of opposite sign. Its measure, therefore, is the negative of the measure of A. If two angles, A and B, have the initial sides VP and VQ and the terminal sides VQ and VR, respectively, then the angle A + B has the initial and terminal sides VP and VR (see the figure—>). The angle A + B is called the sum of the angles A and B, and its relation to A and B when A is positive and B is positive or negative is illustrated in the figure. The sum A + B is the angle the measure of which is the algebraic sum of the measures of A and B. The difference A − B is the sum of A and −B. Thus, all angles coterminal with angle A (i.e., with the same initial and terminal sides as angle A) are given by A ± 360n, in which 360n is an angle of n complete revolutions. The angles (180 − A) and (90 − A) are the supplement and complement of angle A, respectively.

Trigonometric functions of an angle

   To define trigonometric functions for any angle A, the angle is placed in position (see the figure—>) on a rectangular coordinate system with the vertex of A at the origin and the initial side of A along the positive x-axis; r (positive) is the distance from V to any point Q on the terminal side of A, and (x, y) are the rectangular coordinates of Q. The six functions of A are then defined by six ratios exactly as in the earlier case for the triangle given in the introduction (see the figure—>). Because division by zero is not allowed, the tangent and secant are not defined for angles the terminal side of which falls on the y-axis, and the cotangent and cosecant are undefined for angles the terminal side of which falls on the x-axis. When the Pythagorean equality x² + y² = r² is divided in turn by r², x², and y², the three squared relations relating cosine and sine, tangent and secant, cotangent and cosecant (see the table—>) are obtained.

 If the point Q on the terminal side of angle A in standard position has coordinates (x, y), this point will have coordinates (x, −y) when on the terminal side of −A in standard position. From this fact and the definitions are obtained further identities for negative angles (see the table—>). These relations may also be stated briefly by saying that cosine and secant are even functions (symmetrical about the y-axis), while the other four are odd functions (symmetrical about the origin).

      It is evident that a trigonometric function has the same value for all coterminal angles. When n is an integer, therefore, sin (A ± 360n) = sin A; there are similar relations for the other five functions. These results may be expressed by saying that the trigonometric functions are periodic and have a period of 360° or 180°.

 When Q on the terminal side of A in standard position has coordinates (x, y), it has coordinates (−y, x) and (y, −x) on the terminal side of A + 90 and A − 90 in standard position, respectively. Consequently, six formulas follow which display that a function of the complement of A is equal to the corresponding cofunction of A (see the table—>).

 Of fundamental importance for the study of trigonometry are the addition formulas, functions of the sum or difference of two angles. From the addition formulas are derived the double-angle and half-angle formulas. Numerous identities of lesser importance can be derived from the above basic identities. (See the table—>.)

Tables of natural functions

      To be of practical use, the values of the trigonometric functions must be readily available for any given angle. Various trigonometric identities show that the values of the functions for all angles can readily be found from the values for angles from 0° to 45°. For this reason, it is sufficient to list in a table the values of sine, cosine, and tangent for all angles from 0° to 45° that are integral multiples of some convenient unit (commonly 1′). Before computers rendered them obsolete in the late 20th century, such trigonometry tables (trigonometry table) were helpful to astronomers, surveyors, and engineers.

 For angles that are not integral multiples of the unit, the values of the functions may be interpolated. Because the values of the functions are in general irrational numbers, they are entered in the table as decimals, rounded off at some convenient place. For most purposes, four or five decimal places are sufficient, and tables of this accuracy are common. Simple geometrical facts alone, however, suffice to determine the values of the trigonometric functions for the angles 0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90°. These values are listed in a table—> for the sine, cosine, and tangent functions.

Plane trigonometry

  In many applications of trigonometry the essential problem is the solution of triangles. If enough sides and angles are known, the remaining sides and angles as well as the area can be calculated, and the triangle is then said to be solved. Triangles can be solved by the law of sines and the law of cosines (see the table—>). To secure symmetry in the writing of these laws, the angles of the triangle are lettered A, B, and C and the lengths of the sides opposite the angles are lettered a, b, and c, respectively. An example of this standardization is shown in the figure—>.

      The law of sines is expressed as an equality involving three sine functions while the law of cosines is an identification of the cosine with an algebraic expression formed from the lengths of sides opposite the corresponding angles. To solve a triangle, all the known values are substituted into equations expressing the laws of sines and cosines, and the equations are solved for the unknown quantities. For example, the law of sines is employed when two angles and a side are known or when two sides and an angle opposite one are known. Similarly, the law of cosines is appropriate when two sides and an included angle are known or three sides are known.

      Texts on trigonometry derive other formulas for solving triangles and for checking the solution. Older textbooks frequently included formulas especially suited to logarithmic (logarithm) calculation. Newer textbooks, however, frequently include simple computer instructions for use with a symbolic mathematical program such as Mathematica™ or Maple™.

Spherical trigonometry

 Spherical trigonometry involves the study of spherical triangles, which are formed by the intersection of three great circle (great circle route) arcs on the surface of a sphere (see the figure—>). Spherical triangles were subject to intense study from antiquity because of their usefulness in navigation, cartography, and astronomy. (See the section Passage to Europe (trigonometry).)

 The angles of a spherical triangle are defined by the angle of intersection of the corresponding tangent lines to each vertex, as shown in the figure—>. The sum of the angles of a spherical triangle is always greater than the sum of the angles in a planar triangle (π radians, equivalent to two right angles). The amount by which each spherical triangle exceeds two right angles (in radians) is known as its spherical excess. The area of a spherical triangle is given by the product of its spherical excess E and the square of the radius r of the sphere it resides on—in symbols, Er².

  By connecting the vertices of a spherical triangle with the centre O of the sphere that it resides on, a special “angle” known as a trihedral angle is formed (see the figure—>). The central angles (also known as dihedral angles) between each pair of line segments OA, OB, and OC are labeled α, β, and γ to correspond to the sides (arcs) of the spherical triangle labeled a, b, and c, respectively. Because a trigonometric function of a central angle and its corresponding arc have the same value, spherical trigonometry formulas are given in terms of the spherical angles A, B, and C and, interchangeably, in terms of the arcs a, b, and c and the dihedral angles α, β, and γ. Furthermore, most formulas from plane trigonometry have an analogous representation in spherical trigonometry. For example, there is a spherical law of sines and a spherical law of cosines (see the table—>).

      As was described for a plane triangle, the known values involving a spherical triangle are substituted in the analogous spherical trigonometry formulas, such as the laws of sines and cosines, and the resulting equations are then solved for the unknown quantities.

 Many other relations exist between the sides and angles of a spherical triangle. Worth mentioning are Napier's analogies (derivable from the spherical trigonometry half-angle or half-side formulas), which are particularly well suited for use with logarithmic tables. See the table—>.

Analytic trigonometry

      Analytic trigonometry combines the use of a coordinate system, such as the Cartesian coordinate system used in analytic geometry, with algebraic manipulation of the various trigonometry functions to obtain formulas useful for scientific and engineering applications.

      Trigonometric functions of a real variable x are defined by means of the trigonometric functions of an angle. For example, sin x in which x is a real number is defined to have the value of the sine of the angle containing x radians. Similar definitions are made for the other five trigonometric functions of the real variable x. These functions satisfy the previously noted trigonometric relations with A, B, 90°, and 360° replaced by x, y, ^π/₂ radians, and 2π radians, respectively. The minimum period of tan x and cot x is π, and of the other four functions it is 2π.

  In the calculus it is shown that sin x and cos x are sums of power series (see the table—>). These series may be used to compute the sine and cosine of any angle. For example, to compute the sine of 10°, it is necessary to find the value of sin ^π/₁₈ because 10° is the angle containing ^π/₁₈ radians. When ^π/₁₈ is substituted in the series for sin x, it is found that the first two terms give 0.17365, which is correct to five decimal places for the sine of 10°. By taking enough terms of the series, any number of decimal places can be correctly obtained. Tables of the functions may be used to sketch the graphs of the functions, as shown in the figure—>.

      Each trigonometric function has an inverse function, that is, a function that “undoes” the original function. For example, the inverse function for the sine function is written arc sin or sin⁻¹, thus sin⁻¹(sin x) = sin (sin⁻¹ x) = x. The other trigonometric inverse functions are defined similarly.

Coordinates and transformation of coordinates

polar coordinates

 For problems involving directions from a fixed origin (or pole) O, it is often convenient to specify a point P by its polar coordinates (r, θ), in which r is the distance OP and θ is the angle that the direction of r makes with a given initial line. The initial line may be identified with the x-axis of rectangular Cartesian coordinates, as shown in the figure—>. The point (r, θ) is the same as (r, θ + 2nπ) for any integer n. It is sometimes desirable to allow r to be negative, so that (r, θ) is the same as (−r, θ + π).

      Given the Cartesian equation for a curve, the polar equation for the same curve can be obtained in terms of the radius r and the angle θ by substituting r cos θ and r sin θ for x and y, respectively. For example, the circle x² + y² = a² has the polar equation (r cos θ)² + (r sin θ)² = a², which reduces to r = a. (The positive value of r is sufficient, if θ takes all values from −π to π or from 0 to 2π). Thus the polar equation of a circle simply expresses the fact that the curve is independent of θ and has constant radius. In a similar manner, the line y = x tan ϕ has the polar equation sin θ = cos θ tan ϕ, which reduces to θ = ϕ. (The other solution, θ = ϕ + π, can be discarded if r is allowed to take negative values.)

Transformation of coordinates

      A transformation of coordinates in a plane is a change from one coordinate system to another. Thus, a point in the plane will have two sets of coordinates giving its position with respect to the two coordinate systems used, and a transformation will express the relationship between the coordinate systems. For example, the transformation between polar and Cartesian coordinates discussed in the preceding section is given by x = r cos θ and y = r sin θ. Similarly, it is possible to accomplish transformations between rectangular and oblique coordinates.

      In a translation of Cartesian coordinate axes, a transformation is made between two sets of axes that are parallel to each other but have their origins at different positions. If a point P has coordinates (x, y) in one system, its coordinates in the second system are given by (x − h, y − k) where (h, k) is the origin of the second system in terms of the first coordinate system. Thus, the transformation of P between the first system (x, y) and the second system (x′, y′) is given by the equations x = x′ + h and y = y′ + k. The common use of translations of axes is to simplify the equations of curves. For example, the equation 2x² + y² − 12x −2y + 17 = 0 can be simplified with the translations x′ = x − 3 and y′ = y − 1 to an equation involving only squares of the variables and a constant term: (x′)² + ^(y′)2/₂ = 1. In other words, the curve represents an ellipse with its centre at the point (3, 1) in the original coordinate system.

 A rotation of coordinate axes is one in which a pair of axes giving the coordinates of a point (x, y) rotate through an angle ϕ to give a new pair of axes in which the point has coordinates (x′, y′), as shown in the figure—>. The transformation equations for such a rotation are given by x = x′ cos ϕ − y′ sin ϕ and y = x′ sin ϕ + y′ cos ϕ. The application of these formulas with ϕ = 45° to the difference of squares, x² − y² = a², leads to the equation x′y′ = c (where c is a constant that depends on the value of a). This equation gives the form of the rectangular hyperbola when its asymptotes (the lines that a curve approaches without ever quite meeting) are used as the coordinate axes.

Raymond Walter Barnard Ed.

Additional Reading

History of trigonometry

Eli Maor, Trigonometric Delights (1998), is a discussion of various topics in trigonometry from a historical perspective. The first five chapters deal exclusively with the history of trigonometry. J.L. Berggren, Episodes in the Mathematics of Medieval Islam (1986), contains information on the development of trigonometry in Islam. Barnabas Hughes (ed. and trans.), Regiomontanus: On Triangles (1967), is a facsimile edition of Regiomontanus's influential book on trigonometry; pages are arranged so that the English translation appears opposite the original Latin text. George Gheverghese Joseph, The Crest of the Peacock: Non-European Roots of Mathematics, new ed. (2000), correcting the notion that modern mathematics is primarily a product of European development, emphasizes the Egyptian, Babylonian, Chinese, Indian, and Arab contributions to algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. Morris Kline, Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times (1972, reissued in 3 vol., 1990), is an exhaustive work on the history of mathematics, with emphasis on the past 300 years.The following works are comprehensive historical textbooks at the college level, each with a wealth of information on the development of trigonometry: Carl B. Boyer, A History of Mathematics, 2nd ed. rev. by Uta C. Merzbach (1989, reissued 1991); David M. Burton, The History of Mathematics: An Introduction, 4th ed. (1999); Howard Eves, An Introduction to the History of Mathematics, 6th ed. (1990); and Victor J. Katz, A History of Mathematics: An Introduction, 2nd ed. (1998).

Textbooks of trigonometry

Standard trigonometry textbooks include Thomas W. Hungerford and Richard Mercer, Trigonometry (1992); and Karl J. Smith, Trigonometry for College Students, 7th ed. (1998). An accessible textbook for self-instruction is P. Abbott, Trigonometry, rev. by Hugh Neill (1998). Richard Parker, Maple for Trigonometry (1997), guides the reader into advanced trigonometry through the use of the computer program Maple™.Eli Maor Ed.

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