What relationships between trigonometric ratios should I know?
If you know a value for one trig ratio you can often use this to work out the value for the others without needing to find θ
How do we determine whether a trigonometric ratio will be positive or negative?
It is possible to determine whether a trigonometric ratio will be positive or negative by looking at the size of the angle and considering the unit circle
Angles in the range 0° < θ° < 90° will be positive for all three ratios
Angles in the range 90° < θ° < 180° will be positive for sin and negative for cos and tan
Angles in the range 180° < θ° < 270° will be positive for tan and negative for sin and cos
Angles in the range 270° < θ° < 360° will be positive for cos and negative for sin and tan
The ratios for angles of 0°, 90°, 180°, 270° and 360° are either 0, 1, -1 or undefined
You should know these ratios or know how to derive them without a calculator
Exam Tip
Being able to sketch out the unit circle and remembering CAST can help you to find all solutions to a problem in an exam question