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hey guys.

im reviewing for math2c and I've encoutered these two lovely fellows. I have NO idea what they mean. We didn't go over them in precalc, and my calculus book mentions nothing of them, i checked. furthermore kaplans sat2 math prepbook doesnt particularly care to teach me either, but theyre on the tests and stuff.


Could someone please give me a brief explanation of what they are, there relation to regular trig function, and how to use them in a problem?

thank you, immensely.

By Kewlkiwi102 (Kewlkiwi102) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 01:33 am: Edit

arcsin just means inverse sine and arccose is just inverse cosine.
Does that help any?

By Nutriamorada (Nutriamorada) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 04:45 am: Edit

arcsin = cosecant
arctan = cotangent

does that help at all?
I know those terms were in my precalc textbook

By Devious (Devious) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 11:58 am: Edit

Nutriamorada, you're wrong.

cosecant = cosec (or csc)
cotangent = cotan

arcsin = sin^-1 (inverse sine)
arctan = tan^-1 (inverse tangent)

By Averagemathgeek (Averagemathgeek) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 02:25 pm: Edit

The arc functions are essentially the inverses of the trigonometric functions. However, there is something to remember. The trigonometric functions are not one-to-one functions, i.e., sin(x)=sin(y) does not mean x=y. Therefore, their inverses will give several (in fact, infinite) outputs for a single input.

In short, arcsin(x) is the solution set of sin(y)=x when solving for y. If arcsin(x)=y, then sin(y)=x. The converse is not always true.

By Bigsteve121 (Bigsteve121) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 02:40 pm: Edit

OK here we go with the arc sin...is you have arcsin x = 1, then what you are saying is: x is the angle whose sin is 1. It is the inverse function of the sin. It is NOT, 1/sin or csc. It is the the inverse function of the sin. Hope this helps...

By Chocoman (Chocoman) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 03:40 pm: Edit

so on a ti83 calculator, the sin^-1 button is really arcsin?


thanks.

By Bigsteve121 (Bigsteve121) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 06:37 pm: Edit

Essentially yes.....although be aware that the calculator will only give you one answer and there may be more than one. Don't know if you'll need that for SAT II.