These are also known as the (or ). \begin{align} \sin(\alpha + \beta) &= \sin \alpha \cos \beta + \cos \alpha \sin \beta \\ \sin(\alpha - \beta) &= \sin \alpha \cos \beta - \cos \alpha \sin \beta \\ \cos(\alpha + \beta) &= \cos \alpha \cos \beta - \sin \alpha \sin \beta \\ \cos(\alpha - \beta) &= \cos \alpha \cos \beta + \sin \alpha \sin \beta \end{align} The angle difference identities for \sin(\alpha - \beta) and \cos(\alpha - \beta) can be derived from the angle sum versions (and vice versa) by substituting -\beta for \beta and using the facts that \sin(-\beta) = -\sin(\beta) and \cos(-\beta) = \cos(\beta) They can also be derived by using a slightly modified version of the figure for the angle sum identities, both of which are shown here. They can also be seen as expressing the
dot product and
cross product of two vectors in terms of the cosine and the sine of the angle between them. These identities are summarized in the first two rows of the following table, which also includes sum and difference identities for the other trigonometric functions.
Sines and cosines of sums of infinitely many angles When the series \sum_{i=1}^\infty \theta_i
converges absolutely then \begin{align} {\sin}\biggl(\sum_{i=1}^\infty \theta_i\biggl) &= \sum_{\text{odd}\ k \ge 1} (-1)^\frac{k-1}{2} \!\! \sum_{\begin{smallmatrix} A \subseteq \{\,1,2,3,\dots\,\} \\ \left|A\right| = k\end{smallmatrix}} \biggl(\prod_{i \in A} \sin\theta_i \prod_{i \not \in A} \cos\theta_i\biggr) \\ {\cos}\biggl(\sum_{i=1}^\infty \theta_i\biggr) &= \sum_{\text{even}\ k \ge 0} (-1)^\frac{k}{2} \, \sum_{\begin{smallmatrix} A \subseteq \{\,1,2,3,\dots\,\} \\ \left|A\right| = k\end{smallmatrix}} \biggl(\prod_{i \in A} \sin\theta_i \prod_{i \not \in A} \cos\theta_i\biggr) . \end{align} Because the series \sum_{i=1}^\infty \theta_i converges absolutely, it is necessarily the case that \lim_{i \to \infty} \theta_i = 0, \lim_{i \to \infty} \sin \theta_i = 0, and \lim_{i \to \infty} \cos \theta_i = 1. Particularly, in these two identities, an asymmetry appears that is not seen in the case of sums of finitely many angles: in each product, there are only finitely many sine factors but there are
cofinitely many cosine factors. Terms with infinitely many sine factors would necessarily be equal to zero. When only finitely many of the angles \theta_i are nonzero then only finitely many of the terms on the right side are nonzero because all but finitely many sine factors vanish. Furthermore, in each term all but finitely many of the cosine factors are unity.
Tangents and cotangents of sums Let e_k (for k = 0, 1, 2, 3, \ldots) be the th-degree
elementary symmetric polynomial in the variables x_i = \tan \theta_i for i = 0, 1, 2, 3, \ldots, that is, \begin{align} e_0 &= 1 \\[6pt] e_1 &= \sum_i x_i &&= \sum_i \tan\theta_i \\[6pt] e_2 &= \sum_{i Then \tan \Bigl(\sum_i \theta_i\Bigr) = \frac{e_1 - e_3 + e_5 -\cdots}{e_0 - e_2 + e_4 - \cdots}. This can be shown by using the sine and cosine sum formulae above: \begin{align} \tan \Bigl(\sum_i \theta_i\Bigr) &= \frac{{\sin}\bigl(\sum_i \theta_i\bigr) / \prod_i \cos \theta_i} {{\cos}\bigl(\sum_i \theta_i\bigr) / \prod_i \cos \theta_i} \\[10pt] & = \frac {\displaystyle \sum_{\text{odd}\ k \ge 1} (-1)^\frac{k-1}{2} \sum_{ \begin{smallmatrix} A \subseteq \{1,2,3,\dots\} \\ \left|A\right| = k\end{smallmatrix}} \prod_{i \in A} \tan\theta_i} {\displaystyle \sum_{\text{even}\ k \ge 0} ~ (-1)^\frac{k}{2} ~~ \sum_{ \begin{smallmatrix} A \subseteq \{1,2,3,\dots\} \\ \left|A\right| = k\end{smallmatrix}} \prod_{i \in A} \tan\theta_i} = \frac{e_1 - e_3 + e_5 -\cdots}{e_0 - e_2 + e_4 - \cdots} \\[10pt] \cot\Bigl(\sum_i \theta_i\Bigr) &= \frac{e_0 - e_2 + e_4 - \cdots}{e_1 - e_3 + e_5 -\cdots} \end{align} The number of terms on the right side depends on the number of terms on the left side. For example: \begin{align} \tan(\theta_1 + \theta_2) & = \frac{ e_1 }{ e_0 - e_2 } = \frac{ x_1 + x_2 }{ 1 \ - \ x_1 x_2 } = \frac{ \tan\theta_1 + \tan\theta_2 }{ 1 \ - \ \tan\theta_1 \tan\theta_2 }, \\[8pt] \tan(\theta_1 + \theta_2 + \theta_3) & = \frac{ e_1 - e_3 }{ e_0 - e_2 } = \frac{ (x_1 + x_2 + x_3) \ - \ (x_1 x_2 x_3) }{ 1 \ - \ (x_1x_2 + x_1 x_3 + x_2 x_3) }, \\[8pt] \tan(\theta_1 + \theta_2 + \theta_3 + \theta_4) & = \frac{ e_1 - e_3 }{ e_0 - e_2 + e_4 } \\[8pt] & = \frac{ (x_1 + x_2 + x_3 + x_4) \ - \ (x_1 x_2 x_3 + x_1 x_2 x_4 + x_1 x_3 x_4 + x_2 x_3 x_4) }{ 1 \ - \ (x_1 x_2 + x_1 x_3 + x_1 x_4 + x_2 x_3 + x_2 x_4 + x_3 x_4) \ + \ (x_1 x_2 x_3 x_4) }, \end{align} and so on. The case of only finitely many terms can be proved by
mathematical induction. The case of infinitely many terms can be proved by using some elementary inequalities.
Linear fractional transformations of tangents, related to tangents of sums Suppose a,b,c,d,p,q\in\mathbb R and i = \sqrt{-1} and : \frac{ai+b}{ci+d} = pi +q and let \varphi be any number for which \tan\varphi = \tfrac{c}{d}. Suppose that \tfrac{a}{c} \ne \tfrac{b}{d} so that the forgoing fraction cannot be . Then for all \theta\in\mathbb R : \frac{a\tan\theta + b}{c\tan\theta+d} = p\tan(\theta-\varphi) + q. (In case the denominator of this fraction is 0, we take the value of the fraction to be \infty , where the symbol \infty does not mean either +\infty or -\infty , but is the \infty that is approached by going in either the positive or the negative direction, making the completion of the line \mathbb R \cup \{\,\infty\,\} topologically a circle.) From this identity it can be shown to follow quickly that the family of all
Cauchy-distributed random variables is closed under linear fractional transformations, a result known since 1976.
Secants and cosecants of sums \begin{align} {\sec}\Bigl(\sum_i \theta_i \Bigr) &= \frac{\prod_i \sec\theta_i}{e_0 - e_2 + e_4 - \cdots} \\[8pt] {\csc}\Bigl(\sum_i \theta_i \Bigr) &= \frac{\prod_i \sec\theta_i }{e_1 - e_3 + e_5 - \cdots} \end{align} where e_k is the th-degree
elementary symmetric polynomial in the variables x_i = \tan \theta_i, i = 1, \ldots, n, and the number of terms in the denominator and the number of factors in the product in the numerator depend on the number of terms in the sum on the left. The case of only finitely many terms can be proved by mathematical induction on the number of such terms. For example, \begin{align} \sec(\alpha+\beta+\gamma) &= \frac{\sec\alpha \sec\beta \sec\gamma} {1 - \tan\alpha\tan\beta - \tan\alpha\tan\gamma - \tan\beta\tan\gamma} \\[8pt] \csc(\alpha+\beta+\gamma) &= \frac{\sec\alpha \sec\beta \sec\gamma} {\tan\alpha + \tan\beta + \tan\gamma - \tan\alpha\tan\beta\tan\gamma}. \end{align}
Ptolemy's theorem Ptolemy's theorem is important in the history of trigonometric identities, as it is how results equivalent to the sum and difference formulas for sine and cosine were first proved. It states that in a
cyclic quadrilateral ABCD, as shown in the accompanying figure, the sum of the products of the lengths of opposite sides is equal to the product of the lengths of the diagonals. In the special cases of one of the diagonals or sides being a diameter of the circle, this theorem gives rise directly to the angle sum and difference trigonometric identities. The relationship follows most easily when the circle is constructed to have a diameter of length one, as shown here. By
Thales's theorem, \angle DAB and \angle DCB are both right angles. The right-angled triangles DAB and DCB both share the hypotenuse \overline{BD} of length 1. Thus, the side \overline{AB} = \sin \alpha, \overline{AD} = \cos \alpha, \overline{BC} = \sin \beta and \overline{CD} = \cos \beta. By the
inscribed angle theorem, the
central angle subtended by the chord \overline{AC} at the circle's center is twice the angle \angle ADC, i.e. 2(\alpha + \beta). Therefore, the symmetrical pair of red triangles each has the angle \alpha + \beta at the center. Each of these triangles has a
hypotenuse of length \frac{1}{2}, so the length of \overline{AC} is 2 \times \frac{1}{2} \sin(\alpha + \beta), i.e. simply \sin(\alpha + \beta). The quadrilateral's other diagonal is the diameter of length 1, so the product of the diagonals' lengths is also \sin(\alpha + \beta). When these values are substituted into the statement of Ptolemy's theorem that |\overline{AC}|\cdot |\overline{BD}|=|\overline{AB}|\cdot |\overline{CD}|+|\overline{AD}|\cdot |\overline{BC}|, this yields the angle sum trigonometric identity for sine: \sin(\alpha + \beta) = \sin \alpha \cos \beta + \cos \alpha \sin \beta . The angle difference formula for \sin(\alpha - \beta) can be similarly derived by letting the side \overline{CD} serve as a diameter instead of \overline{BD}. == Multiple-angle and half-angle formulas ==