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Trigonometry

Jul 27, 2011

Instant Trig

Trigonometry is math, so many people find it scary Its usually taught in a one-semester high-school course However, 95% of all the trig youll ever need to know can be covered in 15 minutes

And thats what were going to do now

Angles add to 180

The angles of a triangle always add up to 180


20 44

68 44 68 + 68 180

68

120 20 30 + 130 180

30

Right triangles

We only care about right triangles


A right triangle is one in which one of the angles is 90 Heres a right triangle: Heres the angle we are looking at hyp Heres the ote nus right angle e

opposite

adjacent

We call the longest side the hypotenuse We pick one of the other angles--not the right angle We name the other two sides relative to that angle

The Pythagorean Theorem

If you square the length of the two shorter sides and add them, you get the square of the length of the hypotenuse adj2 + opp2 = hyp2 32 + 42 = 52, or 9 + 16 = 25 hyp = sqrt(adj2 + opp2) 5 = sqrt(9 + 16)

5-12-13

There are few triangles with integer sides that satisfy the Pythagorean formula 3-4-5 and its multiples (6-8-10, etc.) are the best known 5-12-13 and its multiples form another set 25 + 144 = 169

opp

hyp adj

Ratios
opposite

Since a triangle has three sides, there are six ways to divide the lengths of the sides Each of these six ratios has a name (and an abbreviation) Three ratios are most used:

hyp o

ten use

adjacent The ratios depend on the shape of the triangle (the angles) but not on the size
hyp ote nus e

sine = sin = opp / hyp cosine = cos = adj / hyp tangent = tan = opp / adj
opposite

The other three ratios are redundant with these and can be ignored

adjacent

Using the ratios

opposite

With these functions, if you know an angle (in addition to the right angle) and the length of a side, you can compute all other angles and lengths of sides hyp ote nus e adjacent

If you know the angle marked in red (call it A) and you know the length of the adjacent side, then

tan A = opp / adj, so length of opposite side is given by opp = adj * tan A cos A = adj / hyp, so length of hypotenuse is given by hyp = adj / cos A

Java methods in java.lang.Math

public static double sin(double a)

If a is zero, the result is zero

public static double cos(double a) public static double sin(double a)

If a is zero, the result is zero

However: The angle a must be measured in radians Fortunately, Java has these additional methods: public static double toRadians(double degrees) public static double toDegrees(double radians)

The hard part

If you understood this lecture, youre in great shape for doing all kinds of things with basic graphics Heres the part Ive always found the hardest:

Memorizing the names of the ratios


use n ote hyp

sin = opp / hyp cos = adj / hyp tan = opp / adj

opposite

adjacent

Mnemonics from wikiquote

The formulas for right-triangle trigonometric functions are:


Sine = Opposite / Hypotenuse Cosine = Adjacent / Hypotenuse Tangent = Opposite / Adjacent Some Old Horse Caught Another Horse Taking Oats Away Saints On High Can Always Have Tea Or Alcohol

Mnemonics for those formulas are:


Drawing a Turtle
You want to move h units in the angle direction, to (x1, y1): hyp You are at: (x, y) adj So you make a right triangle... And you label it... And you compute: x1 = x + adj = x + hyp * (adj/hyp) = x + hyp * cos y1 = y - opp = y - hyp * (opp/hyp) = y - hyp * sin This is the first point in your Turtle triangle Find the other points similarly... opp

The End

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