Trigonometric Functions:

5 Unit Circle Approach

Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

5.4 More Trigonometric Graphs

Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Objectives
■ Graphs of Tangent, Cotangent, Secant, and
Cosecant

■ Graphs of Transformations of Tangent and

Cotangent

■ Graphs of Transformations of Cosecant and

Secant

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More Trigonometric Graphs
In this section we graph the tangent, cotangent, secant,
and cosecant functions and transformations of these
functions.

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Graphs of Tangent, Cotangent,
Secant, and Cosecant

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Graphs of Tangent, Cotangent, Secant, and Cosecant

We begin by stating the periodic properties of these

functions. We know that sine and cosine have period 2.

Since cosecant and secant are the reciprocals of sine and

cosine, respectively, they also have period 2. Tangent and
cotangent, however, have period .

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Graphs of Tangent, Cotangent, Secant, and Cosecant

We first sketch the graph of tangent. Since it has period ,

we need to only sketch the graph on any interval of length 
and then repeat the pattern to the left and to the right.

We sketch the graph on the interval (– /2,  /2).

Since tan( /2) and tan(– /2) aren’t defined, we need to be

careful in sketching the graph at points near  /2 and
– /2.

As x gets near  /2 through values less than  /2, the value

of tan x becomes large.
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Graphs of Tangent, Cotangent, Secant, and Cosecant

To see this, notice that as x gets close to  /2, cos x

approaches 0 and sin x approaches 1 and so
tan x = sin x/cos x is large.

A table of values of tan x for x close to  /2 (1.570796) is

shown below.

Thus the graph of y = tan x

approaches the vertical lines
x =  /2 and x = – /2. So these
lines are vertical asymptotes.

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Graphs of Tangent, Cotangent, Secant, and Cosecant

With the information we have so far, we sketch the graph of

y = tan x for – /2 < x <  /2 in Figure 1.

One period of y = tan x

Figure 1

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Graphs of Tangent, Cotangent, Secant, and Cosecant

The complete graph of tangent (see Figure 5(a)) is now

obtained by using the fact that tangent is periodic with
period .

y = tan x
Figure 5(a)

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Graphs of Tangent, Cotangent, Secant, and Cosecant

The function y = cot x is graphed on the interval (0,  ) by a

similar analysis (see Figure 2)

One period of y = cot x

Figure 2

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Graphs of Tangent, Cotangent, Secant, and Cosecant

Since cot x is undefined for x = n with n an integer, its

complete graph (in Figure 5(b)) has vertical asymptotes at
these values.

y = cot x
Figure 5(b)

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Graphs of Tangent, Cotangent, Secant, and Cosecant

To graph the cosecant and secant functions, we use the

reciprocal identities

and

So to graph y = csc x,
we take the reciprocals
of the y-coordinates of
the points of the graph
of y = sin x. (See Figure 3.)

One period of y = csc x

Figure 3
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Graphs of Tangent, Cotangent, Secant, and Cosecant

Similarly, to graph y = sec x, we take the reciprocals of the

y-coordinates of the points of the graph of y = cos x.
(See Figure 4.)

One period of y = sec x

Figure 4
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Graphs of Tangent, Cotangent, Secant, and Cosecant

The complete graph in Figure 5(c) is now obtained from the

fact that the function cosecant is periodic with period 2.

Note that the graph has vertical asymptotes at the points

where sin x = 0, that is, at x = n, for n an integer.

y = csc x
Figure 5(c) 15
Graphs of Tangent, Cotangent, Secant, and Cosecant

The graph of y = sec x is sketched in a similar manner.

Observe that the domain of sec x is the set of all real
numbers other than x = ( /2) + n, for n an integer, so the
graph has vertical asymptotes at those points. The
complete graph is shown in Figure 5(d).

y = sec x
Figure 5(d) 16
Graphs of Tangent, Cotangent, Secant, and Cosecant

It is apparent that the graphs of y = tan x, y = cot x, and

y = csc x are symmetric about the origin, whereas that of
y = sec x is symmetric about the y-axis.

This is because tangent, cotangent, and cosecant are odd

functions, whereas secant is an even function.

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Graphs of Transformations of
Tangent and Cotangent

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Graphs of Transformations of Tangent and Cotangent

We now consider graphs of transformations of the tangent

and cotangent functions.

Since the tangent and cotangent functions have period ,

the functions

y = a tan kx and y = a cot kx (k > 0)

complete one period as kx varies from 0 to , that is, for

0  kx  .

Solving this inequality, we get 0  x   /k.

So they each have period  /k.

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Graphs of Transformations of Tangent and Cotangent

Thus one complete period of the graphs of these functions

occurs on any interval of length  /k.

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Graphs of Transformations of Tangent and Cotangent

To sketch a complete period of these graphs, it’s

convenient to select an interval between vertical
asymptotes:

To graph one period of y = a tan kx, an appropriate interval

is

To graph one period of y = a cot kx, an appropriate interval

is

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Example 2 – Graphing Tangent Curves
Graph each function.

(a) y = tan 2x (b) y = tan 2

Solution:
(a) The period is  /2 and an appropriate interval is
(– /4,  /4). The endpoints x = – /4 and x =  /4 are
vertical asymptotes. Thus we graph one complete
period of the function on (– /4,  /4).

The graph has the same shape as that of the tangent

function but is shrunk horizontally by a factor of
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Example 2 – Solution cont’d

We then repeat that portion of the graph to the left and

to the right. See Figure 7(a).

y = tan 2x
Figure 7(a)

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Example 2 – Solution cont’d

(b) The graph is the same as that in part (a), but it is shifted
to the right  /4, as shown in Figure 7(b).

y = tan 2

Figure 7(b)

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Example 3 – A Horizontally Shifted Cotangent Curve

Graph the function y = 2 cot

Solution:
We first put the equation in the form y = a cot k(x – b) by
factoring 3 from the expression

Thus the graph is the same as that of y = 2 cot 3x but is

shifted to the right  /12.
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Example 3 – Solution cont’d

The period of y = 2 cot 3x is  /3, and an appropriate

interval for graphing one period is (0,  /3).

To get the corresponding interval for the desired graph, we

shift this interval to the right  /12.

So we have

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Example 3 – Solution cont’d

Finally, we graph one period in the shape of cotangent on

the interval ( /12, 5 /12) and repeat that portion of the
graph to the left and to the right. (See Figure 8.)

Figure 8
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Graphs of Transformations of
Cosecant and Secant

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Graphs of Transformations of Cosecant and Secant

An appropriate interval on which to graph one complete

period is [0, 2 /k].

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Example 4 – Graphing Cosecant Curves
Graph each function.

Solution:
(a) The period is 2 /2 = . An appropriate interval is [0,  ],

and the asymptotes occur in this interval whenever

sin 2x = 0.

So the asymptotes in this interval are x = 0, x =  /2, and

x = . 30
Example 4 – Solution cont’d

With this information we sketch on the interval [0,  ] a

graph with the same general shape as that of one
period of the cosecant function.

The complete graph in

Figure 9(a) is obtained by
repeating this portion of the
graph to the left and to the
right.

y= csc 2x

Figure 9(a)

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Example 4 – Solution cont’d

(b) We first write

From this we see that the graph is the same as that in

part (a) but shifted to the left  /4. The graph is shown in
Figure 9(b).

y= csc
Figure 9(b)
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Example 5 – Graphing a Secant Curve
Graph y = 3 sec

Solution:
The period is 2  = 4. An appropriate interval is
[0, 4 ], and the asymptotes occur in this interval wherever
cos x = 0. Thus, the asymptotes in this interval are
x =  , x = 3 .

With this information we sketch on the interval [0, 4 ] a

graph with the same general shape as that of one period of
the secant function.

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Example 5 – Solution cont’d

The complete graph in Figure 10 is obtained by repeating

this portion of the graph to the left and to the right.

y = 3 sec
Figure 10
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