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January 5 Information

Is there any reason behind this trigonometry mnemonic?

The sine of {0, pi/6, pi/4, pi/3, pi/2} is {root 0 over 2, root 1 over 2, root 2 over 2, root 3 over 2, root 4 over 2}. Thank you. 69.22.242.15 ( talk) 20:24, 5 January 2017 (UTC) reply

Because of the Pythagorean theorem? -- Jayron 32 20:35, 5 January 2017 (UTC) reply
Substitute that into the formula cos 2A = 1 - 2 sin2A and you get:
cos {0, π / 3, π / 2, 2π / 3, π} is {2/2, 1/2, 0/2, -1/2, -2/2}
does that look more familiar or obvious?-- JohnBlackburne words deeds 20:39, 5 January 2017 (UTC) reply
It does. It looks like the interaction between exponents of 2 and 1. Does it have anything to do with Spiral_of_Theodorus? 69.22.242.15 ( talk) 21:08, 5 January 2017 (UTC) reply
I think the OP was wondering if there is any intuition that would lead us to predict such a pattern before using the Pythagoren theorem on each one individually. Loraof ( talk) 20:54, 5 January 2017 (UTC) reply
The answer I give is sort of intuitive; you can draw it as a circle, radius 1, with lines at 0, ±1, ± 1/2. Measure the angles from the top to get {0, π / 3, π / 2, 2π / 3, π}. By trigonometry the cosines of these are the heights of the lines. Finally plug those into
sin A = √1/2 (1 - cos 2A)
to get the numbers in the original question.-- JohnBlackburne words deeds 21:11, 5 January 2017 (UTC) reply
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mathematics desk
< January 4 << Dec | January | Feb >> January 6 >
Welcome to the Wikipedia Mathematics Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.


January 5 Information

Is there any reason behind this trigonometry mnemonic?

The sine of {0, pi/6, pi/4, pi/3, pi/2} is {root 0 over 2, root 1 over 2, root 2 over 2, root 3 over 2, root 4 over 2}. Thank you. 69.22.242.15 ( talk) 20:24, 5 January 2017 (UTC) reply

Because of the Pythagorean theorem? -- Jayron 32 20:35, 5 January 2017 (UTC) reply
Substitute that into the formula cos 2A = 1 - 2 sin2A and you get:
cos {0, π / 3, π / 2, 2π / 3, π} is {2/2, 1/2, 0/2, -1/2, -2/2}
does that look more familiar or obvious?-- JohnBlackburne words deeds 20:39, 5 January 2017 (UTC) reply
It does. It looks like the interaction between exponents of 2 and 1. Does it have anything to do with Spiral_of_Theodorus? 69.22.242.15 ( talk) 21:08, 5 January 2017 (UTC) reply
I think the OP was wondering if there is any intuition that would lead us to predict such a pattern before using the Pythagoren theorem on each one individually. Loraof ( talk) 20:54, 5 January 2017 (UTC) reply
The answer I give is sort of intuitive; you can draw it as a circle, radius 1, with lines at 0, ±1, ± 1/2. Measure the angles from the top to get {0, π / 3, π / 2, 2π / 3, π}. By trigonometry the cosines of these are the heights of the lines. Finally plug those into
sin A = √1/2 (1 - cos 2A)
to get the numbers in the original question.-- JohnBlackburne words deeds 21:11, 5 January 2017 (UTC) reply

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