Pythagorean Identity

The pythagorean identity relates the sides of the right triangle together using only the angle of the right triangle. The identity is derived using pythagorean’s theorem and the properties of the unit circle. Geometrically, the components of the equation can be visualized by the right triangle below.

The pythagorean identity can be derived using the trigonometric functions cosine and sine and the right triangle with a hypotenuse of one. This is triangle is best demonstrated with the unit circle, which visualizes all right triangles of hypotenuse one.

Using the definitions of sine and cosine, we can substitute the variables which represent the adjacent, opposite, and hypotenuse sides of the right triangle into the equations. In this case, the adjacent side corresponds

When we substitute x in for the adjacent side, y for the opposite side, and 1 for the hypotenuse, we can see the adjacent side corresponds directly with the cosine function and the opposite side corresponds with the sine function. Finally, to finish deriving the pythagorean identity, we can combine these facts with Pythagorean's Theorem, which relates the squares of the sides together.

First, convert the theorem into the cartesian coordinate system. This should feel very familiar as it is the equation of a circle.

Then, substitute the corresponding functions above into the equation to get Pythagorean’s identity.

Trigonometric Identities

The Pythagorean Identity is the first identity from a larger set of trigonometric identities. The trigonometric identites are a set of equations derived from the properties of the right triangle.