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The radian, denoted by the symbol rad, is the unit of angle in the International System of Units (SI) and is the standard unit of angular measure used in many areas of mathematics. It is defined such that one radian is the angle subtended at the centre of a circle by an arc that is equal in length to the radius. [ 2 ]
Since one degree is 1 / 360 of a turn, or complete rotation, one arcminute is 1 / 21 600 of a turn. The nautical mile (nmi) was originally defined as the arc length of a minute of latitude on a spherical Earth, so the actual Earth's circumference is very near 21 600 nmi. A minute of arc is π / 10 800 of a radian.
A degree (in full, a degree of arc, arc degree, or arcdegree), usually denoted by ° (the degree symbol), is a measurement of a plane angle in which one full rotation is 360 degrees. [4] It is not an SI unit—the SI unit of angular measure is the radian—but it is mentioned in the SI brochure as an accepted unit. [5]
The angle subtended by a complete circle at its centre is a complete angle, which measures 2 π radians, 360 degrees, or one turn. Using radians, the formula for the arc length s of a circular arc of radius r and subtending a central angle of measure 𝜃 is s = θ r , {\displaystyle s=\theta r,}
The length of a degree of longitude (east–west distance) depends only on the radius of a circle of latitude. For a sphere of radius a that radius at latitude φ is a cos φ, and the length of a one-degree (or π / 180 radian) arc along a circle of latitude is
The radian is the (derived) unit of angular measurement in the SI. degree: 360: 1° The degree, denoted by a small superscript circle (°), is 1/360 of a turn, so one turn is 360°. One advantage of this old sexagesimal subunit is that many angles common in simple geometry are measured as a whole number of degrees.
In this right triangle, denoting the measure of angle BAC as A: sin A = a / c ; cos A = b / c ; tan A = a / b . Plot of the six trigonometric functions, the unit circle, and a line for the angle θ = 0.7 radians. The points labeled 1, Sec(θ), Csc(θ) represent the length of the line segment from the origin to that point.
Illustration of a unit circle. The variable t is an angle measure. Animation of the act of unrolling the circumference of a unit circle, a circle with radius of 1. Since C = 2πr, the circumference of a unit circle is 2π. In mathematics, a unit circle is a circle of unit radius—that is, a radius of 1. [1]