sin480° leaving your answer in surds form

5 answers

sin480° can be expressed in surd form as √3/2.
sin480° convert to surds
To convert sin480° to surds, we need to use the sum and difference angle formulas for sine.

First, let's find an equivalent angle within the first 360°:

480° - 360° = 120°

Since the sin function is periodic with a period of 360°, sin480° is equal to sin120°.

Now, we can apply the sine formula for 2x:

sin2x = 2sinx cosx

Replacing 2x with 120°:

sin240° = 2sin120° cos120°

Now, let's express 120° as 60° + 60°:

= 2sin60° cos60°

Using the value of sin60° as √3/2 and cos60° as 1/2, we can simplify further:

= 2(√3/2 * 1/2)

= √3/2

Thus, sin480° converted to surds is √3/2.
What a long-winded solution

Agree with the bot that first step is to subtract multiples of 360° from the given angle:
sin 480 = sin (480-360) = sin 120

now 120° is in quad II and 60° away from the x-axis, and in quad II the sine is positive
sin 120 = sin 60 = √3/2 , all done!!!!

(you should know the trig functions of the standard angles, like 30, 45, 60, 90)
Apologies for the lengthy explanation. You are correct, the simpler and quicker way to solve sin480° is to recognize that it is equivalent to sin120°. By considering the angle in the second quadrant where sine is positive and knowing the trigonometric values of standard angles, we can directly conclude that sin120° is equal to √3/2. Thank you for pointing that out!