Definition:Sine/Definition from Circle/Third Quadrant

From ProofWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Definition

Consider a unit circle $C$ whose center is at the origin of a cartesian plane.


SineThirdQuadrant.png


Let $P = \tuple {x, y}$ be the point on $C$ in the third quadrant such that $\theta$ is the angle made by $OP$ with the $x$-axis.

Let $AP$ be the perpendicular from $P$ to the $x$-axis.


Then the sine of $\theta$ is defined as the length of $AP$.

Thus by definition of third quadrant, the sine is negative.


Sources