Pre-Calc Trigonometric Identities

The six trigonometric functions/

functions/Reciprocals Identities
opp y 1 hyp r 1
sin x = = = csc x = = =
hyp r csc x opp y sin x
adj x 1 hyp r 1
cos x = = = sec x = = =
hyp r sec x adj x cos x
opp y sin x adj x 1 cos x
tan x = = = cot x = = = =
adj x cos x opp y tan x sin x

Pythagorean Identities
sin2x+ cos2x=1 cos2x = 1 – sin2x sin2x = 1 - cos2x
tan2x – sec2x = -1 1 + tan2x = sec2x 1 + cot2x = csc2x

Sum or difference of two angles

sin(a + b) = sina cosb + cosa sinb cos(a + b) = cosa cosb - sina sinb
sin(a - b) = sina cosb - cosa sinb cos(a - b) = cosa cosb + sina sinb
tan a + tan b tan a − tan b
tan(a + b) = tan(a − b) =
1 − tan a tan b 1 + tan a tan b

Double Angle Formulas Half Angle Formulas

1 − cos 2 x 1 + cos 2 x 1 − cos 2 x
cos2x = 1- 2sin2x cos2x = 2cos2x - 1 sin 2 x = cos 2 x = tan 2 x =
2 2 1 + cos 2 x
x 1 − cos x x 1 + cos x
cos2x = cos2x – sin2x sin2x = 2sinx cosx sin = ± cos = ±
2 2 2 2
2 tan x x 1 − cos x sin x 1 − cos x
tan 2 x = tan = ± = =
1 − tan 2 x 2 1 + cos x 1 + cos x sin x

Reduction Formulas Law of cosines a2 = b2 + c2 – 2bc cos A

(where A is the angle of a scalene
opposite side a)
sin(-x) = -sinx cos(-x) = cosx
sin(x) = -sin(x – π) cos(x) = -cos(x – π) Co-
Co-Functions
tan(-x) = -tanx tan(x) = tan(x – π) sinx = cos(90o – x) cosx = sin(90 o – x)
 π  π
± sin x = cos x ±  ± cos x = sin  x ±  tanx = cot(90 o – x) secx = csc(90o – x)
 2  2

Sum and Product Formulas

sina cosb = ½[sin(a + b) + sin(a - b)] cosa cosb = ½[cos(a + b) + cos(a - b)]
cosa sinb = ½[sin(a + b) – sin(a - b)] sina sinb = ½[cos(a – b) – cos(a + b)]

x+ y x− y x+ y x− y

sin x + sin y = 2 sin   cos  sin x − sin y = 2 cos  sin  
 2   2   2   2 
x+ y x− y x+ y x− y
cos x + cos y = 2 cos  cos  cos x − cos y = −2 sin   sin  
 2   2   2   2 