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Name:_____________________________ Date:__________________ Band:________

Precalculus | Packer Collegiate Institute

The Inverse Trig Functions | AKA How Our Calculators Work


Warm Up: Review

1. Find the missing angle (in degrees) 2. Solve ) s n( . i 0 8 u = (in degrees) for 3 0 60
o o
u s s





3. Which of the three graphs are one-to-one functions?

3t
2
t
t
2
t
2
t
3t
2
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
x
y

sin( ) y x =
3t
2
t
t
2
t
2
t
3t
2
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
x
y

cos( ) y x =
3t
2
t
t
2
t
2
t
3t
2
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
x
y

tan( ) y x =
One-to-One? YES / NO One-to-One? YES / NO One-to-One? YES / NO

STRANGE OBSERVATION: Heres the issue. In order to solve the problem above, didnt we use the inverse
tangent function on the calculator? How can we do that, if tangent doesnt have an inverse?

Section 1: Revisiting Basic Trig Equations

If we wanted to solve )
1
sin(
2
u = (where 3 0 60
o o
u s s ), then we know the solutions would be in
Quadrants III and IV, and the reference angle is 30
o
. Thus the two solutions are: 210
o
and 330
o
.



Now lets solve this using our calculators, like we did in the warm up.

Whaaaat? This doesnt match either angle above
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Or does it?




3
7
2
Section 2: Limitations of your calculator

The first thing you should be wondering is how does the calculator have
1
sin

capabilities, since we know the

sine function is not one-to-one and thus we know it cannot not have an inverse function. But the calculator is
giving us an inverse function. Its written right here!


Whats going on is important, because not only does it explain what the calculator is doing, but you can see
how by a small mathematical trick involving periodicity, we can get something powerful.

Defining Three New (Old) Functions:
3t
2
t
t
2
t
2
t
3t
2
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
x
y

3t
2
t
t
2
t
2
t
3t
2
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
x
y

3t
2
t
t
2
t
2
t
3t
2
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
x
y

( ) y Sin x = ( ) y Cos x = ( ) y Tan x =
One-to-One? YES / NO One-to-One? YES / NO One-to-One? YES / NO

Looking at these three functions, they look very similar to our standard sine, cosine, and tangent graphs. The
big difference is they now all have a restricted domain. Were only taking part of the function! In other words:

Weve restricted the inputs for each of the functions so that they are now one-to-one.
Which means they have inverses.
t
t
2
t
2
t
3
2
1
1
2
3
x
y

( ) y Sin x =
Domain:
Range:
3 2 1 1 2 3
t
2
t
2
x
y

1
( ) y Sin x

=
Domain:
Range:
3

t
t
2
t
2
t
3
2
1
1
2
3
x
y

( ) y Cos x =
Domain:
Range:
For this one, you draw the inverse!
3 2 1 1 2 3
t
2
t
2
x
y

1
( ) y Cos x

=
Domain:
Range:
t
t
2
t
2
t
3
2
1
1
2
3
x
y

( ) y Tan x =
Domain:
Range:
3 2 1 1 2 3
t
2
t
2
x
y

1
( ) y Tan x

=
Domain:
Range:

What is really important to notice here is that the range of the Capital Letter Trig Functions are the exact
same as the range of the lower case letter trig functions. We have all the outputs, but without the repeated
outputs. What I mean is

3t
2
t
t
2
t
2
t
3t
2
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
x
y

3t
2
t
t
2
t
2
t
3t
2
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
x
y

these two graphs are similar,
but the first graph has many places
where the height is , while the
second graph has only one place
where the height is .
4
Look at the inverse functions The output of the inverse functions is an angle. What quadrants are the
outputs in?

1
( ) y Sin x

= :
1
( ) y Cos x

= :
1
( ) y Tan x

= :



Put your calculator in degree mode.

1. Lets solve the following equations using our calculators:

(a) sin( ) 0.6 u = (b) cos( ) 0.1 u = (c) tan( ) 5 u =
(d) cos( ) 0.2 u = (e) tan( ) 0.5 u = (f) cos( ) 0.9 u =

We know these equations have an many solutions (infinite!). We will use our calculators to help us find them.
Lets look specifically at (a).

To get u alone, we need to take the inverse sine of both sides:
1 1
sin( )) ( (0.6) Sin Sin u

=

Why does that get u alone? Because we have learned that functions and their inverses undo each other.
Thus
1
sin( )) ( Sin u u

= . So we know
1
(0.6) Sin u

= .

Thus we get:
1
(0.6) 36.87
o
Sin u

= ~

This is just one solution, instead of the infinite number of solutions. The reason we dont get the infinite
number of solutions is because of our restricted domain.

By restricting the domain, weve given the calculator a way to solve these problems by creating an inverse
function and using that inverse function to find the angle.

2. Find one solution to the equations above, using your calculator.

(a)


(b)

(c)
(d)


(e) (f)

2. Now find all solutions to the equations above!

(a)


(b)

(c)
(d)


(e) (f)

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To rephrase:

Sine, cosine, and tangent do not have inverse functions. However, our calculators do have the inverse
function capabilities on it. What is it actually taking the inverse of, since we have established that sine,
cosine, and tangent do not have inverse functions?

In other words, what is the calculator doing, when we see a screenshot like this?



The answer is that in order for us to deal with sine, cosine, and tangent and have inverse functions, if
we restrict the domain, we will have one-to-one functions, meaning that they then have inverses.

Section 3: Why These Particular Restrictions?!? What if we had other restricted domains?

1. Could we have defined ( ) y Sin x = so that it
has a restricted domain of } { | 0 x x t s < ? If
so, is this a good choice for the restriction? If
not, why not?



3t
2
t
t
2
t
2
t
3t
2
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
x
y


Heres the thing. You might say Mr. Shah, I already knew how to solve cos( ) 0.2 u = . I know what
quadrants the angles are in (I and IV), and I can find the reference angle by using the calculator.
We did that in class! So I know the solutions are approximately
78.46 360
o o
k + and 281.54 360
o o
k + (where k e ). Whats new here? Whats the big idea?

Here it is. To solve sin( ) 0.6 u = algebraically, we need to get u alone. The only way we can do that is by
taking the inverse sine of both sides. But thats impossible, because sine does not have an inverse.

However, by harnessing the power of creating a new sine function with a restricted domain, we can
come up with an inverse function. And that inverse function will at least give us one of the solutions we
care about. And then we can use our wits and enlarged intellects to find all solutions.
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2. Could we have defined ( ) y Sin x = so that it
has a restricted domain of
3 } | / 2 / 2 { x x t t s < ? If so, is this a good
choice for the restriction? If not, why not?

3t
2
t
t
2
t
2
t
3t
2
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
x
y

3. Could we have defined ( ) y Sin x = so that it
has a restricted domain of / 2 0} { | x x t s < ?
If so, is this a good choice for the restriction??
If not, why not?

3t
2
t
t
2
t
2
t
3t
2
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
x
y

4. Could we have defined ( ) y Tan x = so that it
has a restricted domain of
/ { | } 3 2 / 2 x x t t s < ? If so, is this a good
choice for the restriction?? If not, why not?
3t
2
t
t
2
t
2
t
3t
2
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
x
y

5. Could we have defined ( ) y Cos x = so that it
has a restricted domain of
/ 2 { / 2} | x x t t s < ? If so, is this a good
choice for the restriction? If not, why not?

3t
2
t
t
2
t
2
t
3t
2
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
x
y



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6. What are the qualities we are looking for that makes a restricted domain of our trig graphs a good
one?















You may be wondering why the official ones were chosen, if there are many choices for the restricted
domain. They were chosen because they were easy to work with. Thats all. It was arbitrary.

7. Below is a graph for cos( ) y x = . Come up with a new restricted domain for ( ) y Cos x = (one that is
different than the restricted domain on the second page) that could also work


7t
2
3t
5t
2
2t
3t
2
t
t
2
t
2
t
3t
2
2t
5t
2
3t
7t
2
1
1
x
y