Integral Calculus, Half Angle Formula

Half Angle Formula

The double angle formula asserts:

cos(2θ) = 2cos2(θ) - 1

cos(2θ) = 1 - 2sin2(θ)

Reverse these to derive the half angle formulas.

cos(½θ) = sqrt(½(1+cos(θ)))

sin(½θ) = sqrt(½(1-cos(θ)))

Notice that sine squared + cosine squared is still 1, as required.

Let's try 15°, which is half of 30°, which has a cosine of sqrt(3)/2. After some algebra,

cos(15°) = sqrt(2+sqrt(3))/2 = 0.9659

sin(15°) = sqrt(2-sqrt(3))/2 = 0.2588

In this case we could have derived the sine and cosine via angle subtraction. That is, cos(45°-30°) = sqrt(1/2)×(1/2+sqrt(3)/2). Oddly enough, this different looking formula produces the exact same number.

As an exercise, use the half angle formula to show the tangent of 22.5 degrees is sqrt(2)-1.