VBA

High school students usually find it tough to solve trigonometric equations because it involves many kinds of formulae. However, I think VB can help students to solve those equations without much problems. I have just created one VB program that can solve the trigonometric equations that take the form a cos q + b sinq =c.

　

Private Sub Command1_Click()
Dim a, b, c, x, u1, u2, w1, w2 As Double
a = Val(Txt_a.Text)
b = Val(Txt_b.Text)
c = Val(Txt_c.Text)
x = Atn(b / a)
u1 = ArcCos(c / Sqr(a ^ 2 + b ^ 2)) + x
u2 = (2 * 3.14159265358979 - ArcCos(c / Sqr(a ^ 2 + b ^ 2))) + x
w1 = (u1 / 3.14159265358979) * 180
w2 = (u2 / 3.14159265358979) * 180
If w2 > 360 Then
w2 = w2 - 360
End If
Lbl_Answer1.Caption = Round(w1, 2)
Lbl_Answer2.Caption = Round(w2, 2)
End Sub

Public Function ArcCos(y As Double)
ArcCos = Atn(-y / Sqr(-y * y + 1)) + 2 * Atn(1)
End Function
　

Private Sub Command2_Click()
Txt_a.Text = ""
Txt_b.Text = ""
Txt_c.Text = ""
Lbl_Answer1.Caption = ""
Lbl_Answer2.Caption = ""
End Sub
　

Explantion

There is no built-in function for Arc Cosine but there is one such function for Arc Tangent

i.e Atn. However, we can create one function for ArcCos using the formula

ArcCos = Atn(-y / Sqr(-y * y + 1)) + 2 * Atn(1)

which is derived from Pythagoras Theorem using a right-angled triangle.

I use the keyword Public so that other sub procedure can make use of this function.

For the mathematical part, we know that we can express the equation

a cos q + b sinq =c can be expressed as Rcos( q-x)=c

and R=sqr(a²+b²) and x=tan^-1(b/a)

Therefore, q=cos-1(c/R)+x, expressed in radian.

To convert the answer to degree, multiply it by 180 and divide it by pi (3.14159265358979)

The rest you just have to convert them to VB codes.

There are two possible answers between 0 and 360 degree.

Trigonometric Equation