Tangent Function Name:________________________

Page 1 of 3
Slope Review
1. Whats the slope of a perfectly horizontal (left/right) line?

2. Whats the slope of a perfectly vertical line?

3. Whats the slope of a line segment that has the endpoints (0,2) and (6,4) ?



4. Whats the slope of a line segment that has the endpoints (0,0) and (-3,2)?




Important Stuff
1. At every angle in the unit circle theres a radius. You can find the slope of each of the
radiuses radii. For example, at 45 the radius passes through the points (0,0) and
|
|
.
|

\
|
2
2
,
2
2
, so ) 45 ( slope is 1.


angle x = ) (x slope
0
30
45 1
60
3
90
120
135
150
180 0
210
225
240
270 Undefined
300
315
330
360


Definition: The ) (x slope function is also known as ) tan(x .


Tangent Function Name:________________________

Page 2 of 3
2. Is ) tan(x positive or negative in the first quadrant? Second quadrant? Third quadrant?
Fourth Quadrant?


3. Graph ) tan(x y = on the coordinate plane below.





















4. We defined ) tan(x as the function that keeps track of the slope of the radii around the
unit circle. Some people define it in terms of ) sin(x and ) cos(x . Lets derive that
definition of ) tan(x from our slope-definition.

a. Suppose that at angle x, the y-coordinate is b and the x-coordinate is a. What is
the slope of the radius at angle x?


b. Now, replace a and b with the fancy names for the x-coordinate and the y-
coordinate that weve been using in trigonometry.

c. Fill in the blank in the definition below:

Definition: The ) tan(x function can also be defined in terms of ) sin(x and ) cos(x , in the
following way:

= ) tan(x


5. Whats the domain of ) tan(x y = ? Whats the range? Is it one-to-one?


6. Is the inverse of ) tan(x y = a function? Why or why not?
3
2
t

2t
2
t

t
2
t

3
2
t

2t t
Tangent Function Name:________________________

Page 3 of 3
Interesting Stuff
7. Prove that
) ( cos
1
1 ) ( tan
2
2
a
a = +








8. Change the range of ) tan(x y = so that its inverse could be a function. Then graph
) ( tan
1
x y

= on your graphing calculator to see how the computer handles the inverse
of ) tan(x y = .








9. Prove that ) ( sin ) tan( ) sin( ) cos(
2
x x x x =








10. Prove that
) tan(
) cos(
) sin(
) sin(
1
a
a
a
a
=