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MA16-06 Maths Coming soon

Trigonometric Graphs: sin, cos and tan

MA16-06

This lesson is coming soon.

In this lesson

Recognise, sketch and interpret the graphs of y=sin x, y=cos x and y=tan x for angles of any size, as continuous curves rather than plotted points.

What it covers

  • The base, untransformed shapes of y=sin x, y=cos x and y=tan x across a full domain (e.g. 0 to 360 degrees and beyond)
  • Where each curve starts, its maximum/minimum values, its period (repeat length), and where it crosses the x-axis
  • The specific starting-value distinction between sin x (starts at 0) and cos x (starts at its maximum), since this is the documented confusion point
  • Sketching as a smooth continuous curve rather than a series of plotted, unjoined points, per the command word 'sketch'

Key words

For: AQA GCSE 8300, Edexcel GCSE 1MA1, Eduqas GCSE C300, OCR GCSE J560, Edexcel IGCSE 4MA1, Cambridge IGCSE 0580

On the specification

BoardSpecStatement
AQA GCSE 8300A12Recognise, sketch and interpret graphs of linear functions and quadratic functions
Edexcel GCSE 1MA1A12Recognise, sketch and interpret graphs of linear functions, quadratic functions, simple cubic functions, the reciprocal function y = 1/x with x ≠ 0
Eduqas GCSE C300HA12Recognise, sketch and interpret graphs of linear functions, quadratic functions, simple cubic functions, the reciprocal function y = 1/x, with x ≠ 0, exponential functions y = kˣ for positive values of k, and the trigonometric functions (with arguments in degrees) y = sin x, y = cos x and y = tan x for angles of any size
OCR GCSE J5607.01eRecognise and sketch the graphs of y = sin x , y = cos x and y = tan x .
Edexcel IGCSE 4MA1H3.3ARecognise, plot and draw graphs with equation: y = Ax³ + Bx² + Cx + D in which: (i) the constants are integers and some could be zero (ii) the letters x and y can be replaced with any other two letters or: y = Ax³ + Bx² + Cx + D + E/x + F/x² in which: (i) the constants are numerical and at least three of them are zero (ii) the letters x and y can be replaced with any other two letters or: y = sin x, y = cos x, y = tan x for angles of any size (in degrees)
Cambridge IGCSE 0580E6.4Trigonometric functions
For teachers

This GCSE Maths lesson teaches trigonometric Graphs: sin, cos and tan. By the end, students should be able to recognise, sketch and interpret the graphs of y=sin x, y=cos x and y=tan x for angles of any size, as continuous curves rather than plotted points. It works through two worked examples and the mistakes examiners report.