Precalculus Examples

$f (x) = \tan (x)$

Step 1

Set $\tan (x)$ equal to $0$ .

$\tan (x) = 0$

Step 2

Solve for $x$ .

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Step 2.1

Take the inverse tangent of both sides of the equation to extract $x$ from inside the tangent.

$x = \arctan (0)$

Step 2.2

Simplify the right side.

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Step 2.2.1

The exact value of $\arctan (0)$ is $0$ .

$x = 0$

Step 2.3

The tangent function is positive in the first and third quadrants. To find the second solution, add the reference angle from $π$ to find the solution in the fourth quadrant.

$x = π + 0$

Step 2.4

Add $π$ and $0$ .

$x = π$

Step 2.5

Find the period of $\tan (x)$ .

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Step 2.5.1

The period of the function can be calculated using $\frac{π}{| b |}$ .

$\frac{π}{| b |}$

Step 2.5.2

Replace $b$ with $1$ in the formula for period.

$\frac{π}{| 1 |}$

Step 2.5.3

The absolute value is the distance between a number and zero. The distance between $0$ and $1$ is $1$ .

$\frac{π}{1}$

Step 2.5.4

Divide $π$ by $1$ .

$π$

Step 2.6

The period of the $\tan (x)$ function is $π$ so values will repeat every $π$ radians in both directions.

$x = π n, π + π n$ , for any integer $n$

Step 2.7

Consolidate the answers.

$x = π n$ , for any integer $n$

Step 3