P2 Chapter 5 :: Radians

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Last modified: 6th September 2018

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Chapter Overview
The concept of radians will likely be completely new to you.

2:: Find arc length and sector area

1:: Converting between (when using radians)
degrees and radians. “ is a sector. Determine the perimeter
“What is in radians?” of the shape.”
𝐴
3 1.3
𝐶 4 𝑂 𝐵

3:: Solve trig equations in radians. 4:: Small angle approximations

“Solve for .” “Show that, when is small,
.”
*NEW* to A Level 2017!
Radians
So far you’ve used degrees as the unit to measure angles.
But outside geometry, mathematicians pretty much always use radians.

r
Unit Note: While the
unit “” must be written
for degrees, no unit is
generally written for
1° radians (but if so, use r
“rad”). 1 rad

A degree is a 360th of a One radian however is the

rotation around a full movement of one radius’
circle. This is a somewhat worth around the
arbitrary definition! circumference of the circle.

Click to Start Degree Click to Start Radian

Fro-manimation Fro-manimation

?
Thinking about how many radii around the circumference we can go: rad
 …but WHY use radians
as our unit?
In later chapters we will see that differentiates to for example, but
ONLY if is in radians (and we will prove why).

Since trigonometric functions are commonly used in calculus

(differentiation and integration) and that calculus underpins so many
branches of maths, it explains why radians is seen as the ‘default’ unit
for angles.

𝑑
( sin 𝑥 )= cos 𝑥
𝑑𝑥
Converting between radians and degrees
and ?

=
and
?

𝝅 ?
𝟑 ?

90°= 135°= 𝝅
? ?

𝟐 𝟒
? ?

? ?
Be able to convert common angles in your head…

? ?

? ?

? ?

?
 Graph Sketching with Radians
We can replace the values on the -axis with their equivalent value in radians.

𝑦 𝑦
1 1 𝑦 =cos ( 𝑥 )
𝑦 =sin ( 𝑥 )
3 𝑥 3 𝑥
𝜋 𝜋 𝜋 2𝜋 𝜋 𝜋 𝜋 2𝜋
2 2 2 2

−1 −1
Test Your Understanding
Sketch the graph of for .

𝑦
1
𝑦 =cos ( 𝑥+
𝜋
2 ) 𝑦 =cos ( 𝑥 )

? 𝑥
𝜋 𝜋 3
𝜋 2𝜋
2 2

−1
sin, cos, tan of angles in radians

Reminder of laws from Year 1:

• repeat every but every

• repeat every but every

To find sin/cos/tan of a ‘common’ angle in radians without using a calculator, it is

easiest to just convert to degrees first.

( ) 4𝜋 𝟏 2
cos
3
=𝐜𝐨𝐬 ( 𝟐𝟒𝟎 ° ) =𝐜𝐨𝐬 ( 𝟏𝟐𝟎 ° )=−𝐜𝐨𝐬 ( 𝟔𝟎 ° )=−
𝟐 ? 6090120180 𝑥

sin − ( 7𝜋
6 )
=𝐬𝐢𝐧 (− 𝟐𝟏𝟎 ° ) =𝐬𝐢𝐧 (𝟏𝟓𝟎 ° )=𝐬𝐢𝐧 ( 𝟑𝟎 ° ) =
𝟏
𝟐 ?

“Use of Technology” Monkey says:

To find directly using your calculator, you need to switch to radians
mode. Press , then , then . An will appear at the top of your screen,
instead of .
Exercises 5A/5B
Pearson Pure Mathematics Year 2/AS
Pages 116, 118
Arc length
𝑙

𝑟
𝜃

Arc length in degrees: Arc length in radians

From before, we know that 1 radian
gives an arc of 1 radius in length, so
𝜃 radians must give a length of…
𝑙= ×2𝜋𝑟
?
360
𝑙=𝑟
? 𝜃
Examples
[Textbook] Find the length of the [Textbook] An arc of a circle with
arc of a circle of radius 5.2 cm, radius 7 cm and centre has a
given that the arc subtends an length of 2.45 cm. Find the angle
angle of 0.8 radians at the centre subtended by the arc at the centre
of the circle. of the circle

𝐴
𝑐𝑚 𝑚
5.2 7 𝑐
0.8 𝜃
2.45 𝑐𝑚
𝑂
?
?𝐵
0.8 ×5.2=4.16 𝑐𝑚

𝜃×7=2.45
Fro Note: Whether your calculator
is in degrees mode or radians
mode is only relevant when using
sin/cos/tan – it won’t affect simple Terminology: ‘Subtend’ means
multiplication! opposite or extending beneath.
Further Examples
[Textbook] An arc of a circle, with centre and [Textbook] The border of a garden pond
radius cm, subtends an angle of radians at . consists of a straight edge of length 2.4m, and
The perimeter of the sector is cm. Express a curved part , as shown in the diagram. The
in terms of and curve part is an arc of a circle, centre and
radius 2m.
𝐴 Find the length of .
𝑐𝑚 𝐶
𝑟
𝑂 𝜃
𝑟𝑐
𝑚
𝐵? 𝜃
2 𝑐𝑚 2 𝑐𝑚

𝑃=2𝑟+𝜃𝑟 𝑥
𝐴 2.4 𝑐𝑚 𝐵
2 𝑐𝑚 Fro Tip: Trigonometry on right-
angled triangles is always simpler
than using sine/cosine rule.

1.2 𝑐𝑚 ?
Angles round a
point add to .
Test Your Understanding
Edexcel C2 Jan 2005 Q7 Figure 1 shows the triangle , with , and
radians. The arc , where lies on , is an arc of
a circle with centre and radius 8 cm. The
region , shown shaded in Figure 1, is
bounded by the straight lines and and the
arc .

Find
(a) The length of the arc .
(b) The perimeter of , giving your answer to
3 significant figures.

a Length of arc ?
b Perimeter

?
Exercises 5C
Pearson Pure Mathematics Year 2/AS Note: Q10 is based on a past paper
question so is worth doing.
Pages 120-122
Sector Area

𝑟
𝜃

Area using Degrees Area using Radians

𝜃 2 1 2
𝐴= ×𝜋𝑟
? 𝐴= 𝑟? 𝜃
360 2
Segment Area

A segment is the region

𝑟 bound between a chord
𝜃 𝑟 and the circumference.

This is just a sector with a

triangle cut out.

Area using radians: Recall that the area of

a triangle is where is
the ‘included angle’
(i.e. between and )

?
Examples
[Textbook] In the diagram, the area [Textbook] A plot of land is in the shape of
of the minor sector is 28.9 cm2. a sector of a circle of radius 55 m. The
Given that radians, calculate the length of fencing that is erected along the
value of . edge of the plot to enclose the land is 176
m. Calculate the area of the plot of land.
𝐴
𝐴
5 𝑚
cm
5
0.8 𝑂 𝜃
55
cm
𝐵 𝑚
𝐵

Arc

1 ?2
28.9= 𝑟 ×0.8 Area m2 ?

2
Segment Examples
[Textbook] In the diagram above, is [Textbook] In the diagram, is the diameter of a
a sector of a circle, radius 4m. The circle of radius cm, and radians. Given that the
chord is 5m long. Find the area of area of is three times that of the shaded
the shaded segment. segment, show that
.
𝐴
4𝑚
𝐶
𝑂 𝜃5𝑚
4𝑚 𝜃 𝐵
𝐵 𝐴 𝑟 𝑂 𝑟

Using cosine rule:

Area of segment
Area of
Area of shaded segment: Recall that

m2.
? ?
Test Your Understanding
Edexcel C2

1
2 ?
× 9 2 × 0.7=28.35

𝐴𝐶
tan ( 0.7?)=
9

1
𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑂𝐴𝐶= ?×9×7.58=34.11
2
Exercises 5D
Pearson Pure Mathematics Year 2/AS
Pages 125-128

Extension
[MAT 2012 1J]
If two chords and on a circle of radius 1 meet in an angle at ,
for example as drawn in the diagram on the left, then find the
largest possible area of the shaded region , giving your answer in
terms of .

For a fixed the largest area is obtained when the

angle bisector of and is the diameter of the circle.
𝐵
This can be broken up into two isosceles triangles and 1
𝜃
a sector as shown. 𝜋−𝜃
as angle at centre is twice angle at circumference. 𝐴 2
𝜃
1𝑂2 𝜃
2
1
Area of
Area of sector .
? 𝐶
Total shaded area .
Solving Trigonometric Equations
Solving trigonometric equations is virtually the
same as you did in Year 1, except:
• repeat every but every (a) Your calculator needs to be in radians mode.
(b) We use instead of , and so on.

Adjust interval.
[Textbook] Solve the equation
in the interval . Use to get second
value in each ‘pair’.
Then go to next cycle
? by adding to each
value in pair.

Only once all values

obtained in range.

[Jan 07 Q6] Find all the solutions, in the

interval 0 ≤ x < 2, of the equation
 
2 cos2 x + 1 = 5 sin x, ?
 
giving each solution in terms of . (6)
Exercises 5E
Pearson Pure Mathematics Year 2/AS
Pages 131-132

Extension
[MAT 2010 1C] In the range , the equation has
how many solutions?

or
or
? per each cycle
The tan graph always has 1 solution
of radians, so 4 solutions.
Small Angle Approximations

𝑦 =𝑥
𝑦 =𝑥
𝑦 =sin 𝑥
𝑦 =sin 𝑥

If is in radians, we can see from the graph If was in degrees however, then we can see
that as approaches 0, the two graphs are this is not the case.
approximately the same, i.e.

! When is small and measured in radians:

•
•
Small Angle Approximations
𝐴 Geometric Proof that :
The area of sector is:
1
The area of triangle is:

𝑂 𝜃

1
𝐵
As becomes small, the area of the
𝐴 triangle is approximately equal to
1 that of the sector, so:
𝑂 𝜃
1 𝐵

Note that this only works for radians, because we used the sector area formula for radians.
The fact that is enormously important when we come to differentiation, because we can use it to
prove that .
Examples
When is small and measured in radians:

•
•

[Textbook] When is small, find [Textbook] a) Show that, when is small,

the approximate value of:
a) b) Hence state the approximate value of
b) for small values of .

a) ?
b) ? tend
b) The and terms
towards 0, thus the
approximate value is -1.

?
?
Exercises 5F
Pearson Pure Mathematics Year 2/AS
Page 134