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Understanding Sine and Cosine Maxima

The document explains the maxima and minima of sine and cosine functions derived from the unit circle. It details the specific angles where sine reaches its maximum (1) and minimum (-1), as well as for cosine, while noting that tangent does not have maxima or minima. The document emphasizes understanding these concepts rather than just memorizing formulas, and offers to extend the discussion to transformed graphs.

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kazeem isola
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13 views5 pages

Understanding Sine and Cosine Maxima

The document explains the maxima and minima of sine and cosine functions derived from the unit circle. It details the specific angles where sine reaches its maximum (1) and minimum (-1), as well as for cosine, while noting that tangent does not have maxima or minima. The document emphasizes understanding these concepts rather than just memorizing formulas, and offers to extend the discussion to transformed graphs.

Uploaded by

kazeem isola
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Good — that’s exactly the question that separates someone who memorises formulas from someone

who understands trigonometric graphs.

Let’s go straight to the reasoning behind where the maxima and minima come from.

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1 Start with the definition of sine and cosine


1️⃣

Remember that both sine and cosine are periodic functions derived from the unit circle.

On the unit circle:

= the y-coordinate of the point at angle .

= the x-coordinate of the point at angle .

Because both - and -coordinates on a unit circle range between and ,

the maximum possible value for either is , and the minimum possible value is .

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2️⃣For
We want to find where the sine curve reaches its highest and lowest points.

🔹 Maxima (where )

Sine of an angle is 1 when the terminal arm of the angle lies straight up on the unit circle. That occurs at:

x = \frac{\pi}{2}, \; \frac{5\pi}{2}, \; \frac{9\pi}{2}, \ldots

x = \frac{\pi}{2} + 2k\pi, \quad k \in \mathbb{Z}.

🔹 Minima (where )

Sine of an angle is -1 when the terminal arm points straight down on the unit circle. That occurs at:

x = \frac{3\pi}{2}, \; \frac{7\pi}{2}, \; \frac{11\pi}{2}, \ldots

x = \frac{3\pi}{2} + 2k\pi, \quad k \in \mathbb{Z}.

Notice that these points come one full period (2π) apart, as expected.

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3️⃣For
🔹 Maxima (where )

Cosine of an angle is 1 when the terminal arm is pointing straight to the right — that’s the start of the
unit circle. So:

x = 0, \; 2\pi, \; 4\pi, \ldots \quad \text{or compactly } x = 2k\pi.

🔹 Minima (where )

Cosine of an angle is -1 when the terminal arm points left:

x = \pi, \; 3\pi, \; 5\pi, \ldots \quad \text{or } x = \pi + 2k\pi.

Again, each maximum and minimum is separated by half a period ().

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4️⃣For

Tangent has no maxima or minima because it doesn’t flatten out; it increases or decreases endlessly
between vertical asymptotes.

So for tan, you talk about zeros and asymptotes instead, not maxima or minima.
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5️⃣How this fits the formulas in your notes

Your notes said:

For sine:

Max:

Min:

For cosine:

Max:

Min:

All of these come straight from identifying where sin or cos equal 1 or -1 on the unit circle, then using
the period to list all repeats (by adding multiples of ).

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Would you like me to show how to find the maxima and minima for a transformed graph, like ?

That’s where you apply the same logic but adjust for amplitude, period, and shifts.

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