Cotangent is Cosecant divided by Secant

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Theorem

Let $\theta$ be an angle such that $\sin \theta \ne 0$.

Then:

$\cot \theta = \dfrac {\cosec \theta} {\sec \theta}$

where $\cot$, $\cosec$ and $\sec$ mean cotangent, cosecant and secant respectively.


Proof

\(\ds \cot \theta\) \(=\) \(\ds \dfrac {\cos \theta} {\sin \theta}\) Cotangent is Cosine divided by Sine, which holds when $\sin \theta \ne 0$
\(\ds \) \(=\) \(\ds \dfrac {1 / \sec \theta} {1 / \cosec \theta}\) Secant is Reciprocal of Cosine, Cosecant is Reciprocal of Sine
\(\ds \) \(=\) \(\ds \dfrac {\dfrac 1 {\sec \theta} \cosec \theta \sec \theta} {\dfrac 1 {\cosec \theta} \cosec \theta \sec \theta}\) multiplying top and bottom by $\cosec \theta \sec \theta$
\(\ds \) \(=\) \(\ds \dfrac {\cosec \theta} {\sec \theta}\) after simplification

$\blacksquare$


Sources