Why sometimes in the trigonometric equations in the answers we add 2nPi and other times only nPi?

1 Answer
May 23, 2018

2 n pi for sin(x) and cos(x)

n pi for tan(x)

Explanation:

It depends on the period of the trigonometric function that we're dealing with.

The period of sin(x) and cos(x) is 2 pi, so if we are to find the general solutions to some equation like sin(x) = 1, we'd have the solutions in the form of x = frac(pi)(2) pm 2 pi n.

The period of tan(x), on the other hand, is pi, so equations like tan(x) = 1 would have the general solution x = frac(pi)(4) pm pi n.