Lesson 3 More “Sine” Language Solidify Understanding
Learning Focus
Extend the definition of sine to include all angles of rotation.
How can we define the sine function for angles larger than
Open Up the Math: Launch, Explore, Discuss
Clarita is helping Carlos calculate his height at different locations around a Ferris wheel. They have noticed when they use their formula
Carlos and Clarita are making notes of what they have observed about this new way of defining the sine function that seems to be programmed into the calculator.
Carlos: “For some angles, the calculator gives me positive values for the sine of the angle, and for some angles, it gives me negative values.”
1.
Without using your calculator, list at least five angles of rotation for which the value of the sine produced by the calculator should be positive.
2.
Without using your calculator, list at least five angles of rotation for which the value of the sine produced by the calculator should be negative.
Clarita: “Yeah, and sometimes we can’t even draw a triangle at certain positions on the Ferris wheel, but the calculator still gives us values for the sine at those angles of rotation.”
3.
List possible angles of rotation that Clarita is talking about—positions for which you can’t draw a reference triangle. Then, without using your calculator, give the value of the sine that the calculator should provide at those positions.
Carlos: “And, because of the symmetry of the circle, some angles of rotation should have the same values for the sine.”
4.
Without using your calculator, list at least five pairs of angles that should have the same sine value.
Clarita: “Right! And if we go around the circle more than once, the calculator still gives us values for the sine of the angle of rotation, and multiple angles have the same value of the sine.”
5.
Without using your calculator, list at least five sets of multiple angles of rotation where the calculator should produce the same value of the sine.
Carlos: “So how big can the angle of rotation be and still have a sine value?”
Clarita: “Or how small?”
6.
How would you answer Carlos and Clarita’s questions?
Carlos: “And while we are asking questions, I’m wondering how big or how small the value of the sine can be as the angles of rotation get larger and larger?”
7.
Without using a calculator, what would your answer be to Carlos’s question?
Clarita: “Well, whatever the calculator is doing, at least it’s consistent with our right triangle definition of sine as the ratio of the length of the side opposite to the length of the hypotenuse for angles of rotation between
Carlos and Clarita decide to ask their math teacher how mathematicians have defined sine for angles of rotation, since the ratio definition no longer holds when the angle isn’t part of a right triangle. Here is a summary of that discussion.
We begin with a circle of radius
In this diagram, angle
8.
Based on this diagram and the right triangle definition of the sine ratio, find an expression for
9.
Consider the point
a.
What is the radius of this circle?
b.
Draw the circle and the angle of rotation, showing the initial and terminal ray.
c.
For the angle of rotation you just drew, what is the value of the sine based on the definition we wrote for sine in problem 8?
d.
What is the measure of the angle of rotation? How did you determine the size of the angle of rotation?
e.
Is the calculated value based on this definition the same as the value given by the calculator for this angle of rotation?
10.
Consider the point
a.
What is the radius of this circle?
b.
Draw the circle and the angle of rotation, showing the initial and terminal ray.
c.
For the angle of rotation you just drew, what is the value of the sine based on the definition we wrote for sine in problem 8?
d.
What is the measure of the angle of rotation? How did you determine the size of the angle of rotation?
e.
Is the calculated value based on this definition the same as the value given by the calculator for this angle of rotation?
Ready for More?
In the circle diagram given, draw an angle in standard position that measures between
Find the sine of each of these four angles of rotation.
Find the angle of rotation associated with each of these terminal rays.
Takeaways
In right triangle trigonometry, trigonometric ratios are defined in terms of
For example:
For angles of rotation, trigonometric functions are defined in terms of
For example:
Equations like
The statement
The statement
The statement
Adding Notation, Vocabulary, and Conventions
Annotate the diagram to illustrate the following terms and symbols:
Angle of rotation in standard position
Initial ray
Terminal ray
Point
on the terminal ray Coterminal angles
Vocabulary
Lesson Summary
In this lesson, we extended the definition of the sine to make it possible to find sine values for nonacute angles, including all possible angles of rotation
1.
Figure 1 shows a funky graph.
a.
Identify each point where there is a maximum and each point where there is a minimum.
b.
This curve repeats itself two and one-half times. (It’s called a periodic function.) Find the length of the interval that would allow you to see exactly one full length of the curve.
c.
The curve is positive on the interval
2.
A