67 total
By the end of these notes, you will be able to:
The three main trigonometric functions — sine, cosine, and tangent — all produce graphs with special, repeating shapes.
Think of a Ferris wheel spinning at a constant speed. As a seat moves around the wheel, its height above the ground goes up, then comes back down, then up again — forever repeating the same pattern. This repeating up-and-down movement is exactly what a sine or cosine graph looks like.
Functions that repeat the same pattern over and over are called periodic functions. Trigonometric functions are the most important examples of periodic functions.
Before looking at more complex functions, you need to know the basic (standard) shapes of these three graphs.
Key facts:
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Amplitude | 1 |
| Period | 360° or 2π radians |
| Maximum value | 1 |
| Minimum value | −1 |
Key facts:
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Amplitude | 1 |
| Period | 360° or 2π radians |
| Maximum value | 1 |
| Minimum value | −1 |
💡 Notice: The cosine graph looks exactly like the sine graph but shifted 90° to the left. They have the same shape, just starting at a different point.
Sign in to view full notes