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o We could make use of a scientific calculator to obtain the trigonometric value of an angle.
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/ Example:
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o Find the value of cos 6.35˚
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y Press cos 6.35˚ = 0.9939 (correct to 4 decimal places)
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Find the value of sin 40˚ 32
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t Press sin 40˚32 ’ = 0.6499 (correct to 4 decimal places)
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_ Solution:
Find the value of x for the following triangle. (Give your answer correct to 4
t decimal places)
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_ x = 6.21 × sin 31.3˚ = 3.2262
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r Sine can be found in degrees by taking the length of the
e opposite side and hypoteneuse. Then divide the opposite side
e by the hypoteneuse. Any calculator can be used to find this.
s for example, if the hypoteneuse side was 7, and the opposite
# side was 3, and you labeled the angle "A", then it would be
i "sineA= 3/7" ...... then A=sin^-1 (3/7) and you put that in your
x calculator and the answer you get is the angle in degrees (if the
z calculator is in degrees mode, and if the angle is an acute
z angle).
1
7 Read more:
o http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_convert_sine_to_degr
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If you are interested in learning how to use a scientific calculator, read this tutorial about using a scientific calculator. A scientific
calculator has an x2 button that gives the square of a number. For example, the square of 5 is 25. There is also a yx button that gives a
number raised to the power another number. For example, 5 raised to the power 3 is 125. There is also a 1/x button that gives the
multiplicative inverse of a number. For example, the multiplicative inverse of 5 is 0.2.

There may also be a Random button that generates a random number. There is also a pi button that gives the value of 3.14159. There is
also a % button that gives a number divided by 100. For example, 15% is 0.15. Then there is a button to give the square root of a number.
For example, the square root of 16 is 4. There is also a button to fix display to two decimal places.

Trigonometric functions

Here are the instructions for using a scientific calculator for trigonometric functions. The sin, cos and tan buttons can be used to find the
sine, cosine and tangent of an angle. For example, the sine of a 30 degree angle is 0.5. The cosine of a 30 degree angle is 0.866, and the
tangent of a 30 degree angle is 0.577.

There are many other keys on a scientific calculator. There is a x! button that gives the factorial of a number. For example, the factorial of
4 is 4 * 3 * 2 * 1, which is equal to 24. There is also a nPr button that gives the permutations for one number choose another number. For
example, the permutations for 5 choose 3 is 5! / (5 - 3)!, which is equal to 60. There is also a nCr button that gives the combinations for
one number choose another number. For example, the combinations for 5 choose 3 is 5! / (3! * 2!), which is equal to 10.

Statistics

You can then enter statistics mode which allows you to enter a list of numbers. There is a button to find the sum of all the data. There is
another button to find the arithmetic mean of the numbers. There is another button to find the number of terms entered. For example, you
can enter the numbers 75, 16, 34, 29 and 72. The sum of all the data is 75 + 16 + 34 + 29 + 72, which is equal to 226. The arithmetic mean
of the numbers is 226 / 5, which is equal to 45.2. The number of terms entered is 5.

There are some memory buttons that allow you to store and reuse results in a mathematical problem. The MC button clears the contents of
the memory. In this case, the memory stores the value 0. The M+ button adds the current value to the memory. The MR button recalls the
value stored in the memory and puts in on the display.

Logarithmic functions

There is also a log button that gives the logarithm of a number to the base 10. For example, the logarithm of 1000 to the base 10 is 3.
There is an e button that gives the value of the mathematical constant, which is 2.718. There is also a ln button which gives the natural
logarithm of a number. The natural logarithm of a number is the logarithm of the number to the base e. For example, the natural logarithm
of 10 is 2.3. You can also find the logarithm of a number in another base. This is because logb x is equal to log10 x / log10 b. For example,
log5 50 is equal to log10 50 / log10 5, which is equal to 1.7 / 0.7, which is equal to 2.43.

Using a scientific calculator is important, if you are taking a physics course in school or university. Now that you know how to use a
scientific calculator, you can play around with it until you are an expert at it, and ace your math ex

This is a free online math/scientific calculator similar to those from TI, Casio, HP and others. It supports functions for
algebra and trigonometry.

Enter a formula either by typing on the keyboard (see keyboard input below), pressing the buttons on the calculator with the
mouse, or a mixture of both. Type in the formula as you would say it, then press = or the keyboard enter key. For example:

Find the value of the equation: by pressing the calculator buttons:

√ 3 x2 + 4 x2 ) =

The display will show:

How do you convert sine, cosine, and tangent into degrees?

The way to covert sine can be found in degrees by taking the length of the opposite side and hypotenuse while the
cosine is more?
During this tutorial you will be asked to perform calculations involving trigonometric functiions. You will need a calulator
to proceed.

Panel 1

The purpose of this tutorial is to review with you the elementary properties of the
trigonometric functions. Facility with this subject is essential to success in all branches of science, and you are strongly
urged to review and practice the concepts presented here until they are mastered. Let us consider the right-angle
triangle shown in Panel 1. The angle at C is a right angle and the angle at A we will call θ . The lengths of the sides of
the triangle we will denote as p, q and r. From your elementary geometry, you know several things about this triangle.
For example, you know the Pythagorean relation,
q² = p² + r². That is, the square of the length of the side opposite the right angle, which we call the hypotenuse, is equal
to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides.
We know other things. For example, we know that if the lengths of the three sides of any triangle p, q and r are specified, then the whole
triangle is determined, angles included. If you think about this for a moment, you will see it is correct. If I give you three sticks of fixed
length and told you to lay them down in a triangle, there's only one triangle which you could make. What we would like to have is a way
of relating the angles in the triangle, say θ , to the lengths of the sides.
It turns out that there's no simple analytic way to do this. Even though the triangle is specified by the lengths of the three sides, there is
not a simple formula that will allow you to calculate the angle θ . We must specify it in some new way.
To do this, we define three ratios of the sides of the triangle.

One ratio we call the sine of theta, written sin(θ ), and it is defined as the ratio of the side opposite θ to the
hypotenuse, that is r/q.

Panel 1 The cosine of θ , written cos(θ ), is the side adjacent to θ over the hypotenuse, that is, p/q.

This is really enough, but because it simplifies our mathematics later on, we define the tangent of θ , written tan(θ ),
as the ratio of the opposite to the adjacent sides, that is r/p. This is not an independent definition since you can readily
see that the tangent of θ is equal to the sine of θ divided by the cosine of θ . Verify for yourself that this is correct.

In order to make these functions useful in calculations, we need numerical values of them for the different values of θ .
All scientific calculators provide this information. The first thing to ensure is that your calculator is set to the anglular measure that you
want. Angles are usually measured in either degrees or radians (see tutorial on DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS). The angle 2º is a much
different angle than 2 radians since 180º = π radians = 3.1416... radians. Make sure that your calculator is set to degrees.
Now suppose that we want the sine of 24º. Simply press 24 followed by the [sin] key and the display should show the value 0.4067.
Therefore, the sine of 24º is 0.4067. That is, in a triangle like panel 1 where θ = 24º, the ratio of the sides r to q is 0.4067. Next set your
calculator to radians and find the sine of 0.42 radians. To do this enter 0.42 followed by the [sin] key. You should obtain a value of 0.4078.
This is nearly the same value as you obtained for the sine of 24º. Using the relation above you should confirm that 24º is close to 0.42
radians
Obviously, using your calculator to find values of sines is very simple. Now find sine of 42º 24 minutes. The sine of 42º 24 minutes is
0.6743. Did you get this result? If not, remember that 24 minutes corresponds to 24/60 or 0.4º. The total angle is then 42.4º
The determination of cosines and tangents on your calculator is similar. It is now possible for us to solve the simple
problem concerning triangles. For example, in Panel 2, the length of the hypotenuse is 3 cm and the angle θ is 24º.
What is the length of the opposite side r? The sine of 24º as we saw is 0.4067 and it is also, by definition, r/3.
 So, sine of 24º = .4067 = r/3, and therefore, r = 3 x 0.4067 = 1.22 cm.
Panel 2
Conversely, suppose you knew that the opposite side was 2 cm long and the hypotenuse was 3 cm long, as in panel 3,
what is the angle θ ? First determine the sine of θ .

You should find that the sine of θ is 2/3, which equals 0.6667. Now we need determine what angle has 0.6667 as its
sine.
Panel 3
If you want your answer to be in degrees, be sure that your calculator is set to degrees. Then enter 0.6667 followed by
the [INV] key and then the [sin] key. You should obtain a value of 41.8º. If your calculator doesn't have a [INV] key, it
probably has a [2ndF] key and the inverse sine can be found using it.

One use of these trigonometric functions which is very important is the calculation of components of vectors. In panel
4 is shown a vector OA in an xy reference frame. We would like to find the y component of this vector. That is, the
projection OB of the vector on the y axis. Obviously, OB = CA and CA/OA = sin(θ ), so CA = OA sin(θ ). Similarly,
the x-component of OA is OC. And OC/OA = cos(θ ) so OC = OA cos(θ ).

Panel 4
There are many relations among the trigonometric functions which are important, but one in particular you will find
used quite often. Panel 1 has been repeated as Panel 5 for you. Let us look at the sum cos² + sin². From the figure, this
is (p/q)² + (r/q)², which is
[(p² + r²) / (q²)]. The Pythagorean theorem tells us that p² + r² = q² so we have
[(p² + r²) / q²] = (q²/q²) = 1. Therefore, we have;

Panel 5 cos² + sin² = 1.

Our discussion so far has been limited to angles between 0 and 90º. One can, using the calculator, find the the sine of larger angles (eg
140º ) or negative angles (eg -32º ) directly. Sometimes, however, it is useful to find the corresponding angle betweeen 0 and 90º. Panel 6
will help us here.
In this xy reference frame, the angle θ is clearly between 90º and 180 º, and clearly, the angle α , which is 180 - θ
( α is marked with a double arc) can be dealt with. In this case, we say that the magnitude of sine, cosine, and tangent
of θ are those of the supplement α and we only have to examine whether or not they are positive or negative.

Panel 6
We always assume that the hypotenuse q is positive, but r and p have the sign appropriate to their direction with respect to the origin.
Clearly, in Panel 6, r is positive and p is negative. Therefore, we can write
r/q = sin(α ) = sin(180º - θ )
cos(α ) = (-p/q) = -cos(α ) = -cos(180º - θ )
tangent of α = r/(-p) = -tan(α ) = - tan(180º - θ ).
Notice that only the sin is positive.
For example, what is the sine, cosine and tangent of 140º? The supplement is 180º - 140º = 40º. Find the sine, the cosine and the tangent
of 40º.
sin(40º) = 0.6428
cos(40º) = 0.7660
tan(40º) = 0.8391
Now we know that sin(140º) = 0.6428, cos(140º) = -0.7660, and tan(140º) = -0.8391.