Trigonometric Functions Essay

Sarah Lewandowski
FST/10C
D19















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Sine, cosine, and tangent are used in trigonometry. The basis of these is the unit
circle, a circle with radius 1. The sine value is the y coordinate, and cosine is the x
coordinate. The tangent is the slope, or sine over cosine. The unit circle values start at
0, and go to 360. These values are more commonly expressed in radians, from 0 to
2 These values continue to infinity, because a circle is continuous, and therefore go
past 360 and 2 The range of the y coordinates, or sine values, is only from -1 to 1,
because the radius of the circle is one.
Sine
The first trigonometric function that will be discussed is sine. This function is
y=sin. The x coordinate for all three original functions is given in radians, and therefore
is continuous, and never ends. The domain of sine is all real numbers. The range is
from -1 to 1, because of the unit circles radius. This also means that the amplitude is 1.
This function, when graphed, has zeros at integer multiples of (- 0, 2, 3, etc.).
The maximumswhere sine equals 1occur at /2 + integer multiples of 2 (-3/2, /2,
5/2, 9/2, etc.). The minimumswhere sine equals -1are 3/2 + integer multiples of
2 (-/2, 3/2, 7/2, 11/2, etc.). The maximums and minimums occur every 2
because the period is 2, which means that the function repeats every 2 radians. The
sine function is shown in Figure 1.
The next function, a variation of sine, is inverse sine. This function is y=sin
1
An inverse function by definition is a reflection over the line y=x, or when the x and y
coordinates are switched. Since the x and y coordinates are switched, the domain and
range are switched. The range of sine is -1 to 1, so the domain of inverse sine is -1 to 1.
The domain of inverse sine, then, should be all real numbers. But when graphed, this
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does not pass the vertical line test, meaning there is more than one output for each
input. So the domain of the original sine function must be restricted. The criteria are that
it must include quadrant I angles, it must contain all possible values of the original
function, and it must be continuous. The restricted range of inverse sine, therefore, is
from -/2 to /2. Inverse sine is shown in Figure 2.
The final function related to sine is cosecant, or the reciprocal of sine. This
function is y=csc Since sine is actually sine over 1, the reciprocal is 1 over sine. The
domain of this function is all real numbers, except for integer multiples of These are
the asymptotes of cosecant. They are asymptotes because at these values, sine is
zero, so the reciprocal is one over zero, which is impossible. The range of cosecant is
greater than or equal to 1, and less than or equal to -1. The values are not between -1
and 1 because sine values do not exceed 1, so the highest/lowest values they can be
are 1/-1 and 1/1. The function touches sine at the maximums and minimums of sine, as
shown in Figure 3. The period is 2 though it alternates positive and negative every
and it is not continuous because of the asymptotes.
Cosine
The cosine function is y=cos The domain of cosine is all real numbers. The
range is -1 to 1, meaning the amplitude is 1. The function has zeroes at odd integer
multiples of /2. The maximums, where cosine is 1, occur at 0, 2, 4 etc. The
minimums, where cosine is -1, occur at 3 5 The period is 2 Cosine is graphed in
Figure 4.
The next function is inverse cosine. This is y=cos
1
It is a reflection of cosine
over the line y=x, which also means the domain and range are switched. The domain is
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the range of cosine, which is -1 to 1, but, like sine, the domain of cosine must be
restricted. To fulfill all the criteria mentioned earlier, the range of inverse cosine is from
0 to as shown in Figure 5.
Secant is the reciprocal of cosine. The function y=sec is graphed in Figure 6,
with the original function of cosine. The domain of secant is all real numbers, except
when x equals 0, because 1/0 is undefined. The asymptotes, where x equals 0, are at
odd integer multiples of /2. The range of cosecant is less than or equal to -1, and
greater than or equal to 1. Like cosecant and sine, secant touches the original cosine
function at its maximums and minimums. Like cosecant, the period is 2, it alternates
between positive and negative, and is not continuous.
Tangent
The last original function is y=tan This is graphed below in Figure 7. Tangent is
the slope, or the sine value over the cosine value. The domain of this function is all real
numbers, except where cosine equals 0, because that would be -1 or 1 over 0, which is
undefined. There are asymptotes where cosine has zerosat odd integer multiples of
/2. The range of tangent is all real numbers. The period is because slope repeats
every radians.
The next function is inverse tangent. The function y=tan
1
is graphed in Figure
8. The domain and range are flipped, so the domain is all real numbers, and the range
is between - /2 and /2, like one cycle of tangent. The rest of the cycles of tangent are
not included in the range because it must be restricted so that it will pass the vertical
line test. If all the cycles were included, there would be far more than one output for
every input.
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Cotangent is the last function related to tangent. The function y=cot is graphed
in Figure 9, with the original tangent function. The reciprocal of tangent is cosine over
sine, so the domain is all real numbers, and there are asymptotes where sine equals 0,
or at integer multiples of The range of cotangent is all real numbers. The functions of
tangent and cotangent intersect where cosine and sine have the same absolute values,
or at odd integer multiples of /4, where the exact value of both cosine and sine is either
2 /2 or - 2 /2. The y coordinates at the intersection points are therefore -1 and 1. The
period of this function is and the amplitude is undefined because it increases without
bound.
Right Triangle Trigonometry
Refer to Figure 10 (assume angle between sides a and b is 90). When there is a
right triangle, ratios can be used. The ratio for sine is opposite side over hypotenuse.
The ratio for cosine is adjacent side over hypotenuse, and the ratio for tangent is
opposite over adjacent. For example, in the triangle below, sine of theta is a over c,
cosine is b over c, and tangent is a over b.
Reciprocal trigonometric ratios are also very useful, much quicker in some
circumstances, and more difficult to evaluate incorrectly. Since sine is opposite over
hypotenuse, cosecant is hypotenuse over opposite. Cosine is adjacent over
hypotenuse, so secant is hypotenuse over adjacent. And tangent is opposite over
adjacent, so cotangent is adjacent over opposite.



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Figure 1. Original Sine Function Figure 2. Inverse Sine





Figure 3. Sine and Cosecant Figure 4. Original Cosine Function





Figure 5. Inverse Cosine Figure 6. Cosine and Secant






Figure 7. Original Tangent Function Figure 8. Inverse Tangent
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Figure 9. Tangent and Cotangent Figure 10. Right Triangle