Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Finding coordinates on the Unit Circle

Coordinates can be found on the unit circle by inscribing 60, 45, and 30 degree triangles.

Sketch depicting triangles inscribed in a unit circle to find coordinates relative to the angle

Thus triangles with
60 degrees corresponds to the coordinate (1/2,sqrt(3)/2)
45 degrees corresponds to the coordinate (sqrt(2)/2,sqrt(2)/2)
30 degrees corresponds to the coordinate (sqrt(3)/2,1/2)


So the adjacent side makes the x axis, the opposite side makes the y axis, and the hypotenuse always equals 1.

1 comment:

Digital Zone said...
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