Graph Tangent Function Math
Find the vertical asymptotes so you can find the domain.
Graph tangent function math. To plot the parent graph of a tangent function f x tan x where x represents the angle in radians you start out by finding the vertical asymptotes. Recall that and cosx has a value of 0 when x 90 or 270. Since tan x sin x cos x the tangent function is undefined when cos x 0. Similarly the tangent and sine functions each have zeros at integer multiples of π because tan x 0 when sin x 0.
This can create a situation in which the denominator will be zero and therefore undefined when using the tangent function. To graph the tangent function we mark the angle along the horizontal x axis and for each angle we put the tangent of that angle on the vertical y axis. The period of the tangent graph is π radians which is 0 to 180 and therefore different from that of sine and cosine which is 2π in radians or 0 to 360. Therefore the tangent function has a vertical asymptote whenever cos x 0.