Ahhh, the unit circle. I remember the time in trigonometry when my teacher had the class memorize the unit circle, and as per usual, I waited until the night before the quiz to study. Here are some tips and tricks to memorizing this wonderful circle in a mere 10 minutes.
- Only memorize the first quadrant. If you do this, the point values will be the exact same in every one, the only difference is the sign of the number, but if you know the quadrant rules, you should be okay. (Quadrant I: +,+; Quadrant II: -,+; Quadrant III: -,-; Quadrant IV: +,-)
- Remember geometry. Wait, what? You have to actually remember geometry? If you remember reflection over the x-axis and y-axis, you will be able to remember where the (xπ/3) and (xπ/6) values go. Always remember that the (xπ/2) values are on the axes and that the (xπ/4) values are 45° between each quadrant.
- As for the degrees, every quadrant has one halfway between (45°, 135°, 225°, and 315°) and there is always a 30° (30°, 150°, 210°, and 330°) value and 60° (60°, 120°, 240°, 300°) value as well.
There you have it, memorizing the unit circle in 10 minutes! Go over these rules and you will have no problem acing this test!!
