What is the value of sin 30°?

The value of sin 30° is 0.5. This result comes from the fundamental properties of right triangles and the unit circle. In a right triangle where one of the angles is 30°, the opposite side to that angle is half the length of the hypotenuse.

When considering a unit circle, the sine function is defined as the y-coordinate of the point on the circle corresponding to a given angle measured from the positive x-axis. For 30°, this point on the unit circle has coordinates (√3/2, 1/2). The sine of the angle is thus the second coordinate, which is 1/2 or 0.5.

Understanding this relationship helps reinforce why sin 30° is accurately calculated as 0.5, establishing that this is a key value in trigonometry commonly utilized in various applications.