Education Technology


VIC: Six Trig Functions

by Texas Instruments

Objectives

Students develop meaningful connections between the six trigonometric functions beyond the simplistic memorisation of ‘the third letter’ for cosec, sec and cot. Through understanding students are better equipped to answer questions beyond rote learning.

Vocabulary

  • sine (sin)
  • cosine (cos)
  • tangent (tan)
  • secant (sec)
  • cosecant (cosec)
  • cotangent (cot)
  • Similar triangles
  • Pythagoras's theorem

About the Lesson

The six trigonometric functions sine, cosine, tangent, secant, cosecant and cotangent are represented on the unit circle. Students use these representations to build understanding of each function and to develop relationships between each by consideration of similar triangles and Pythagoras’s theorem.