Honors

Precalculus

Sine Function Analysis

Name: Ella -------------------------------

Date: ____________ Block: _____

= ()

1) What does stand for? Yes, it is an angle, but how do we quantify that angle?
What does " < < " mean given what stands for? Include an explanation of negative x-
values.
The value x stands for however many radians, which is the ratio of arc length to the radius, make up an
angles standard position on any given circle. A negative radian measure indicates the angle formed with
the initial side on the positive x-axis, and the terminal side moving clockwise through the quadrants. Given
that x stands for the number of radians, the notation -10 < x < 10 means that the sin(x) function has a
minimum of -3 pi radians, and a maximum of 3 pi radians.

2) What does mean for some specific value of ?
Hint: Think about how you developed the sine graph in class where did the segments come from?
For any specific value of x, the y value (or sin(x)) is the ratio of the height to the radius, if a circle is drawn
with the center (0,0) and passes through the x intercepts. The height is equivalent to the distance between
a point on the terminal side (an x axis) of the quadrants formed within the circle and a point on the actual
arc measure itself.

3) Graph = using Desmos. Click on any point on the graph (choose a random, non-quadrantal
angle). The point's coordinates are shown. What are they? What story do these coordinates tell? Your
answer should use language like angle, radian, segment, circle.
The point I graphed on Desmos had coordinates of (2.5, 0.598). The x-value of 2.5 is the radian measure of
the angle formed. The y value of 0.598 is the ratio of the height to the radius of the triangle formed in a
circle in Quadrant 2 with 2.5 as the angle measure in radians.

4) Why does the graph of = appear as it does? Analyze the behavior of the function in each
quadrant. Use language of covariation: as x varies from _____ to _____, y varies from _____ to _____
because Why do the values of = repeat?
The graph of sin(x) appears as it does because it is periodic. The function is increasing from 0 to pi/2,
decreasing from pi/2 to 3 pi/2, and increasing again from 3 pi/2 to 2 pi. As x varies from 0 to 2 pi, in one full
rotation, y varies from 0 to 1, to 0 to -1, and then to 0 again. The graph of sin(x) starts to repeat with the
curved wave shape as the angle measures move past 2 pi because if an angle was to increase, it would

repeat angle measures again from 0 to 2 pi, since 2 pi=360. Therefore, 2 pi and 360 also share the same
coterminal angles. As the height of a triangle formed inside the circle increases, then the ratio of he height
to the radius increases, along with the value of sin(x). The same thing would occur if all three values
decreased. A function is periodic if it repeats the least positive value of a in the equation: f(x) = f(x+a).
Since the graph of sin(x) is indeed periodic, it will appear in a wavy shape across the quadrants.