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In mathematics, sine and cosine are trigonometric functions of an angle.The sine and cosine of an acute angle are defined in the context of a right triangle: for the specified angle, its sine is the ratio of the length of the side opposite that angle to the length of the longest side of the triangle (the hypotenuse), and the cosine is the ratio of the length of the adjacent leg to that of the ...
Illustration of angle addition formulae for the sine and cosine of acute angles. Emphasized segment is of unit length. Diagram showing the angle difference identities for sin ( α − β ) {\displaystyle \sin(\alpha -\beta )} and cos ( α − β ) {\displaystyle \cos(\alpha -\beta )}
If the denominator, b, is multiplied by additional factors of 2, the sine and cosine can be derived with the half-angle formulas. For example, 22.5° ( π /8 rad) is half of 45°, so its sine and cosine are: [ 11 ]
The sine and the cosine functions, for example, are used to describe simple harmonic motion, which models many natural phenomena, such as the movement of a mass attached to a spring and, for small angles, the pendular motion of a mass hanging by a string. The sine and cosine functions are one-dimensional projections of uniform circular motion.
Fig. 1 – A triangle. The angles α (or A), β (or B), and γ (or C) are respectively opposite the sides a, b, and c. In trigonometry, the law of cosines (also known as the cosine formula or cosine rule) relates the lengths of the sides of a triangle to the cosine of one of its angles.
The sine and tangent small-angle approximations are used in relation to the double-slit experiment or a diffraction grating to develop simplified equations like the following, where y is the distance of a fringe from the center of maximum light intensity, m is the order of the fringe, D is the distance between the slits and projection screen ...
For example, the sine of angle θ is defined as being the length of the opposite side divided by the length of the hypotenuse. The six trigonometric functions are defined for every real number, except, for some of them, for angles that differ from 0 by a multiple of the right angle (90°). Referring to the diagram at the right, the six ...
The cosine rule may be used to give the angles A, B, and C but, to avoid ambiguities, the half angle formulae are preferred. Case 2: two sides and an included angle given (SAS). The cosine rule gives a and then we are back to Case 1. Case 3: two sides and an opposite angle given (SSA). The sine rule gives C and then we have Case 7. There are ...