There is a number of important relationships between the values of the functions sin and cos. These are known as trigonometric identities. There are three of them which you should memorize, and about a dozen others which are less important.
The trigonometric functions are defined as cos(θ)=xP , sin(θ)=yP , tan(θ)=yPxP, where P=(xP,yP) is a point on the unit circle.
The three identities that you must remember are:
sin2(x)+cos2(x)=1. This is true by Pythagoras theorem and the definition of sin and cos. The ratios of the squares of the sides of a triangle is equal to the square of the size of the hypotenuse.
sin(a+b)=sin(a)cos(b)+sin(b)cos(a). The mnemonic for this one is “sico sico”.
cos(a+b)=cos(a)cos(b)−sin(a)sin(b). The mnemonic for this one is “coco - sisi”—the negative sign is there because it is not good to be a sissy.
If you remember the above thee formulas, you can derive pretty much all the other trigonometric identities.
Starting from the sico-sico identity above, and setting a=b=x we can derive following identity: sin(2x)=2sin(x)cos(x).
Starting from the coco-sisi identity, we derive: cos(2x) = 2cos2(x)−1 =2(1−sin2(x))−1=1−2sin2(x), or if we rewrite to isolate the sin2 and cos2 we get: cos2(x)=12(1+cos(2x)),sin2(x)=12(1−cos(2x)).
Sin and cos are periodic functions with period 2π. So if we add multiples of 2π to the input, we get the same value: sin(x+2π)=sin(x+124π)=sin(x),cos(x+2π)=cos(x).
Furthermore, sin and cos are self similar within each 2π cycle: sin(π−x)=sin(x),cos(π−x)=−cos(x).
Now it should come and no surprise if I tell you that actually sin and cos are just π2-shifted versions of each other: cos(x)=sin(x+π2)=sin(π2−x), sin(x)=cos(x−π2)=cos(π2−x).
sin(a)+sin(b)=2sin(12(a+b))cos(12(a−b)), sin(a)−sin(b)=2sin(12(a−b))cos(12(a+b)), cos(a)+cos(b)=2cos(12(a+b))cos(12(a−b)), cos(a)−cos(b)=−2sin(12(a+b))sin(12(a−b)).
sin(a)cos(b)=12(sin(a+b)+sin(a−b)), sin(a)sin(b)=12(cos(a−b)−cos(a+b)), cos(a)cos(b)=12(cos(a−b)+cos(a+b)).
The above formulas will come in handy in many situations when you have to find some unknown in an equation or when you are trying to simplify a trigonometric expression. I am not saying you should necessarily memorize them, but you should be aware that they exist.