What are sin and cos and why are they used so frequently in math?
In: 6
Do you remember the Pythagorean theorem for right triangles?
> a^2 + b^2 = c^2
Well, sine and cosine are closely connected to that idea, but they relate all of that ratio-of-sides info into something expressed in terms of angle. How?
> a^2 + b^2 = c^2
> (a/c)^2 + (b/c)^2 = 1
> cos(x)^2 + sin(x)^2 = 1
This is helpful because it can help us translate geometry problems involving angles into forms that can be solved by the Pythagorean theorem, or in reverse it can help us identify an angle based on the info we know about the sides of a right triangle.
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