Trigonometry Examples

$f (x) = \tan (\arccos (\frac{x}{2}))$

Step 1

Find where the expression $\frac{\sqrt{(2 + x) (2 - x)}}{x}$ is undefined.

$x < - 2, x = 0, x > 2$

Step 2

Since $\frac{\sqrt{(2 + x) (2 - x)}}{x}$ $\to$ $- \infty$ as $x$ $\to$ $0$ from the left and $\frac{\sqrt{(2 + x) (2 - x)}}{x}$ $\to$ $\infty$ as $x$ $\to$ $0$ from the right, then $x = 0$ is a vertical asymptote.

$x = 0$

Step 3

Consider the rational function $R (x) = \frac{a x^{n}}{b x^{m}}$ where $n$ is the degree of the numerator and $m$ is the degree of the denominator.

1. If $n < m$ , then the x-axis, $y = 0$ , is the horizontal asymptote.

2. If $n = m$ , then the horizontal asymptote is the line $y = \frac{a}{b}$ .

3. If $n > m$ , then there is no horizontal asymptote (there is an oblique asymptote).

Step 4

Find $n$ and $m$ .

$n = 1$

$m = 1$

Step 5

Since $n = m$ , the horizontal asymptote is the line $y = \frac{a}{b}$ where $a = 1$ and $b = 1$ .

$y = 1$

Step 6

Use polynomial division to find the oblique asymptotes. Because this expression contains a radical, polynomial division cannot be performed.

Cannot Find Oblique Asymptotes

Step 7

This is the set of all asymptotes.

Vertical Asymptotes: $x = 0$

Horizontal Asymptotes: $y = 1$

Cannot Find Oblique Asymptotes

Step 8