Ordinary

trigonometry Trigonometry () is a branch of mathematics that studies relationships between side lengths and angles of triangles. The field emerged in the Hellenistic world during the 3rd century BC from applications of geometry to astronomical studies. ...

studies

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non-collinear ...

s in the

Euclidean plane In mathematics, the Euclidean plane is a Euclidean space of dimension two. That is, a geometric setting in which two real quantities are required to determine the position of each point ( element of the plane), which includes affine notions of ...

. There are a number of ways of defining the ordinary Euclidean geometric

trigonometric functions In mathematics, the trigonometric functions (also called circular functions, angle functions or goniometric functions) are real functions which relate an angle of a right-angled triangle to ratios of two side lengths. They are widely used in a ...

real number In mathematics, a real number is a number that can be used to measure a ''continuous'' one-dimensional quantity such as a distance, duration or temperature. Here, ''continuous'' means that values can have arbitrarily small variations. Every r ...

s, for example right-angled triangle definitions, unit circle definitions, series definitions, definitions via differential equations, and definitions using functional equations. Generalizations of trigonometric functions are often developed by starting with one of the above methods and adapting it to a situation other than the real numbers of Euclidean geometry. Generally, trigonometry can be the study of triples of points in any kind of

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ...

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

. A triangle is the

polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two to ...

with the smallest number of vertices, so one direction to generalize is to study higher-dimensional analogs of

angle In Euclidean geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two rays, called the '' sides'' of the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the ''vertex'' of the angle. Angles formed by two rays lie in the plane that contains the rays. Angles a ...

s and polygons:

solid angle In geometry, a solid angle (symbol: ) is a measure of the amount of the field of view from some particular point that a given object covers. That is, it is a measure of how large the object appears to an observer looking from that point. The poi ...

s and

polytopes In elementary geometry, a polytope is a geometric object with flat sides ('' faces''). Polytopes are the generalization of three-dimensional polyhedra to any number of dimensions. Polytopes may exist in any general number of dimensions as an ...

such as

tetrahedron In geometry, a tetrahedron (plural: tetrahedra or tetrahedrons), also known as a triangular pyramid, is a polyhedron composed of four triangular faces, six straight edges, and four vertex corners. The tetrahedron is the simplest of all the ...

s and -simplices.

Trigonometry

*In

spherical trigonometry Spherical trigonometry is the branch of spherical geometry that deals with the metrical relationships between the sides and angles of spherical triangles, traditionally expressed using trigonometric functions. On the sphere, geodesics are gr ...

, triangles on the surface of a

sphere A sphere () is a geometrical object that is a three-dimensional analogue to a two-dimensional circle. A sphere is the set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three-dimensional space.. That given point is the ...

are studied. The spherical triangle identities are written in terms of the ordinary trigonometric functions but differ from the plane triangle identities. *Hyperbolic trigonometry: *# Study of

hyperbolic triangle In hyperbolic geometry, a hyperbolic triangle is a triangle in the hyperbolic plane. It consists of three line segments called ''sides'' or ''edges'' and three points called ''angles'' or ''vertices''. Just as in the Euclidean case, three po ...

s in

hyperbolic geometry In mathematics, hyperbolic geometry (also called Lobachevskian geometry or Bolyai–Lobachevskian geometry) is a non-Euclidean geometry. The parallel postulate of Euclidean geometry is replaced with: :For any given line ''R'' and point ''P'' ...

with

hyperbolic functions In mathematics, hyperbolic functions are analogues of the ordinary trigonometric functions, but defined using the hyperbola rather than the circle. Just as the points form a circle with a unit radius, the points form the right half of the ...

. *#

Hyperbolic functions In mathematics, hyperbolic functions are analogues of the ordinary trigonometric functions, but defined using the hyperbola rather than the circle. Just as the points form a circle with a unit radius, the points form the right half of the ...

in Euclidean geometry: The

unit circle In mathematics, a unit circle is a circle of unit radius—that is, a radius of 1. Frequently, especially in trigonometry, the unit circle is the circle of radius 1 centered at the origin (0, 0) in the Cartesian coordinate system in the Eucl ...

is parameterized by (cos ''t'', sin ''t'') whereas the equilateral

hyperbola In mathematics, a hyperbola (; pl. hyperbolas or hyperbolae ; adj. hyperbolic ) is a type of smooth curve lying in a plane, defined by its geometric properties or by equations for which it is the solution set. A hyperbola has two pieces, ca ...

is parameterized by (cosh ''t'', sinh ''t''). *# Gyrotrigonometry: A form of trigonometry used in the

gyrovector space A gyrovector space is a mathematical concept proposed by Abraham A. Ungar for studying hyperbolic geometry in analogy to the way vector spaces are used in Euclidean geometry.Abraham A. Ungar (2005), "Analytic Hyperbolic Geometry: Mathematical Fo ...

approach to

, with applications to

special relativity In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory regarding the relationship between space and time. In Albert Einstein's original treatment, the theory is based on two postulates: # The laws o ...

and

quantum computation Quantum computing is a type of computation whose operations can harness the phenomena of quantum mechanics, such as superposition, interference, and entanglement. Devices that perform quantum computations are known as quantum computers. Though ...

. *

Rational trigonometry ''Divine Proportions: Rational Trigonometry to Universal Geometry'' is a 2005 book by the mathematician Norman J. Wildberger on a proposed alternative approach to Euclidean geometry and trigonometry, called rational trigonometry. The book advocat ...

– a reformulation of trigonometry in terms of ''spread'' and ''quadrance'' rather than ''angle'' and ''length''. *Trigonometry for

taxicab geometry A taxicab geometry or a Manhattan geometry is a geometry whose usual distance function or metric of Euclidean geometry is replaced by a new metric in which the distance between two points is the sum of the absolute differences of their Cartesian co ...

*Spacetime trigonometries *Fuzzy qualitative trigonometry *Operator trigonometry *Lattice trigonometry *Trigonometry on symmetric spaces

Higher dimensions

Schläfli orthoscheme In geometry, a Schläfli orthoscheme is a type of simplex. The orthoscheme is the generalization of the right triangle to simplex figures of any number of dimensions. Orthoschemes are defined by a sequence of edges (v_0v_1), (v_1v_2), \dots, (v_v ...

s - right simplexes (right triangles generalized to ''n'' dimensions) - studied by Schoute who called the generalized trigonometry of ''n'' Euclidean dimensions

polygonometry Ordinary trigonometry studies triangles in the Euclidean plane . There are a number of ways of defining the ordinary Euclidean geometric trigonometric functions on real numbers, for example right-angled triangle definitions, unit circle defini ...

. ** Pythagorean theorems for ''n''-simplices with an "orthogonal corner" * Trigonometry of a tetrahedron **

De Gua's theorem __NOTOC__ In mathematics, De Gua's theorem is a three-dimensional analog of the Pythagorean theorem named after Jean Paul de Gua de Malves. It states that if a tetrahedron has a right-angle corner (like the corner of a cube), then the square of t ...

– a Pythagorean theorem for a tetrahedron with a cube corner ** A law of sines for tetrahedra *

Polar sine In geometry, the polar sine generalizes the sine function of angle to the vertex angle of a polytope. It is denoted by psin. Definition ''n'' vectors in ''n''-dimensional space Let v1, ..., v''n'' (''n'' ≥ 2) be non-zero ...

Trigonometric functions

*Trigonometric functions can be defined for fractional differential equations. *In

time scale calculus In mathematics, time-scale calculus is a unification of the theory of difference equations with that of differential equations, unifying integral and differential calculus with the calculus of finite differences, offering a formalism for studying h ...

differential equation In mathematics, a differential equation is an equation that relates one or more unknown functions and their derivatives. In applications, the functions generally represent physical quantities, the derivatives represent their rates of change, an ...

s and

difference equation In mathematics, a recurrence relation is an equation according to which the nth term of a sequence of numbers is equal to some combination of the previous terms. Often, only k previous terms of the sequence appear in the equation, for a parameter ...

s are unified into dynamic equations on time scales which also includes q-difference equations. Trigonometric functions can be defined on an arbitrary time scale (a subset of the real numbers). *The series definitions of sin and cos define these functions on any

algebra Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics. Elementary a ...

where the

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used in ...

converge such as

complex numbers In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted , called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation i^= -1; every complex number can be expressed in the form a ...

, ''p''-adic numbers,

matrices Matrix most commonly refers to: * ''The Matrix'' (franchise), an American media franchise ** ''The Matrix'', a 1999 science-fiction action film ** "The Matrix", a fictional setting, a virtual reality environment, within ''The Matrix'' (franchis ...

, and various

Banach algebra In mathematics, especially functional analysis, a Banach algebra, named after Stefan Banach, is an associative algebra A over the real or complex numbers (or over a non-Archimedean complete normed field) that at the same time is also a Banach sp ...

Other

*Polar/Trigonometric forms of

hypercomplex number In mathematics, hypercomplex number is a traditional term for an element of a finite-dimensional unital algebra over the field of real numbers. The study of hypercomplex numbers in the late 19th century forms the basis of modern group represen ...

s *

Polygonometry Ordinary trigonometry studies triangles in the Euclidean plane . There are a number of ways of defining the ordinary Euclidean geometric trigonometric functions on real numbers, for example right-angled triangle definitions, unit circle defini ...

– trigonometric identities for multiple distinct angles *The

Lemniscate elliptic functions In mathematics, the lemniscate elliptic functions are elliptic functions related to the arc length of the lemniscate of Bernoulli. They were first studied by Giulio Fagnano in 1718 and later by Leonhard Euler and Carl Friedrich Gauss, among ot ...

, sinlem and coslem

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Generalized Trigonometry Trigonometry

Trigonometry

Higher dimensions

Trigonometric functions

Other

See also

References