What are the cotangent, secant, and cosecant values on the Unit Circle?

2 Answers

You can find the value of #cot x# on the trig unit circle with origin #O#.
Suppose #M# is the extremity of the variable arc #AM = x#, and #B# is the top point of the circle. The line #AM# cut the horizontal tangent axis #Bz# at point #V#. The segment #BV# is the measure of #cot x#.
The trig unit circle only shows the 4 values of the 4 trig functions (#cos x#, #sin x#, #tan x#, #cot x#) of the arc #AM = x#. The unit circle doesn't show the values of #sec x# and #csc x#.

Apr 21, 2015

If #t# (or #theta#) is associated with the point #(x,y)# on the unit circle, then

#sint=y# #color(white)"sssssssssssssssssss"# #csct = 1/y# (for #y!=0#)

#cost=x# #color(white)"sssssssssssssssssss"# #sect = 1/x# (for #x!=0#)

#tant=y/x# (for #x!=0#)#color(white)"sssssss"# #cott = x/y# (for #y!=0#)