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Trigonometric Addition Formulas

THINGS TO TRY:
trigonometry

Foundations of Mathematics

addition formula sin(x)

Geometry
History and Terminology

Angle addition formulas express trigonometric functions of sums of angles

fundamental formulas of angle addition in trigonometry are given by

in terms of functions of

addition formula cos(x)

and . The

Number Theory

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

Probability and Statistics

Recreational Mathematics
Topology

(5)
Alphabetical Index

Dissection Proof of
the Addition Formula
for Sines
Izidor Hafner

Interactive Entries

(6)

Random Entry

Cosine and Sine of the

Sum of Two Angles
Tomas Garza

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The first four of these are known as the prosthaphaeresis formulas, or sometimes as Simpson's formulas.

MathWorld Classroom

The sine and cosine angle addition identities can be compactly summarized by the matrix equation

Addition Formula for

Sine
Chris Boucher

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(7)

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Difference Formula for

Cosine

These formulas can be simply derived using complex exponentials and the Euler formula as follows.

Chris Boucher

(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)

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Equating real and imaginary parts then gives (1) and (3), and (2) and (4) follow immediately by substituting

for .

Taking the ratio of (1) and (3) gives the tangent angle addition formula
(12)
(13)

(14)

(15)
The double-angle formulas are
(16)
(17)
(18)
(19)
(20)
Multiple-angle formulas are given by

(21)

(22)

and can also be written using the recurrence relations

(23)
(24)
(25)

The angle addition formulas can also be derived purely algebraically without the use of complex numbers. Consider the
small right triangle in the figure above, which gives
(26)
(27)
Now, the usual trigonometric definitions applied to the large right triangle give
(28)

(29)

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(30)
(31)

Solving these two equations simultaneously for the variables

and

then immediately gives

(32)
(33)

These can be put into the familiar forms with the aid of the trigonometric identities
(34)
and
(35)
(36)
(37)
(38)
which can be verified by direct multiplication. Plugging () into () and (38) into () then gives
(39)
(40)
as before.

A similar proof due to Smiley and Smiley uses the left figure above to obtain
(41)

from which it follows that

(42)
Similarly, from the right figure,
(43)
so
(44)

Similar diagrams can be used to prove the angle subtraction formulas (Smiley 1999, Smiley and Smiley). In the figure at
left,
(45)
(46)
(47)
giving
(48)
Similarly, in the figure at right,
(49)
(50)
(51)
giving
(52)
TanSubtractionRen

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A more complex diagram can be used to obtain a proof from the

. Then

identity (Ren 1999). In the above figure, let

(53)
An interesting identity relating the sum and difference tangent formulas is given by
(sin(alpha-beta)cos(alpha+beta))/(cos(alp

(54)

((sinalphacosbeta-sinbetacosalpha)(cosalphacosbeta-sinalphasinbeta))/((

(55)
(56)

SEE ALSO:

Double-Angle Formulas, Half-Angle Formulas, Harmonic Addition Theorem, Multiple-Angle Formulas, Prosthaphaeresis
Formulas, Trigonometry Angles, Trigonometry, Werner Formulas
REFERENCES:
Beyer, W. H. CRC Standard Mathematical Tables, 28th ed. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 1987.
Nelson, R. To appear in College Math. J., March 2000.
Ren, G. "Proof without Words:

." College Math. J. 30, 212, 1999.

Smiley, L. M. "Proof without Words: Geometry of Subtraction Formulas." Math. Mag. 72, 366, 1999.
Smiley, L. and Smiley, D. "Geometry of Addition and Subtraction Formulas." http://math.uaa.alaska.edu/~smiley/trigproofs.html.

Referenced on Wolfram|Alpha: Trigonometric Addition Formulas

CITE THIS AS:
Weisstein, Eric W. "Trigonometric Addition Formulas." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. http://mathworld.wolfram.com
/TrigonometricAdditionFormulas.html

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