Trigonometry Examples

$f (x) = \frac{1}{4} \cot (\frac{1}{2} x) - 2$

Step 1

Use the form $a \cot (b x - c) + d$ to find the variables used to find the amplitude, period, phase shift, and vertical shift.

$a = \frac{1}{4}$

$b = \frac{1}{2}$

$c = 0$

$d = - 2$

Step 2

Since the graph of the function $c o t$ does not have a maximum or minimum value, there can be no value for the amplitude.

Amplitude: None

Step 3

Find the period using the formula $\frac{π}{| b |}$ .

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Step 3.1

Find the period of $\frac{\cot (\frac{x}{2})}{4}$ .

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Step 3.1.1

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

$\frac{π}{| b |}$

Step 3.1.2

Replace $b$ with $\frac{1}{2}$ in the formula for period.

$\frac{π}{| \frac{1}{2} |}$

Step 3.1.3

$\frac{1}{2}$ is approximately $0.5$ which is positive so remove the absolute value

$\frac{π}{\frac{1}{2}}$

Step 3.1.4

Multiply the numerator by the reciprocal of the denominator.

$π \cdot 2$

Step 3.1.5

Move $2$ to the left of $π$ .

$2 π$

Step 3.2

Find the period of $- 2$ .

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Step 3.2.1

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

$\frac{π}{| b |}$

Step 3.2.2

Replace $b$ with $\frac{1}{2}$ in the formula for period.

$\frac{π}{| \frac{1}{2} |}$

Step 3.2.3

$\frac{1}{2}$ is approximately $0.5$ which is positive so remove the absolute value

$\frac{π}{\frac{1}{2}}$

Step 3.2.4

Multiply the numerator by the reciprocal of the denominator.

$π \cdot 2$

Step 3.2.5

Move $2$ to the left of $π$ .

$2 π$

Step 3.3

The period of addition/subtraction of trig functions is the maximum of the individual periods.

$2 π$

Step 4

Find the phase shift using the formula $\frac{c}{b}$ .

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Step 4.1

The phase shift of the function can be calculated from $\frac{c}{b}$ .

Phase Shift: $\frac{c}{b}$

Step 4.2

Replace the values of $c$ and $b$ in the equation for phase shift.

Phase Shift: $\frac{0}{\frac{1}{2}}$

Step 4.3

Multiply the numerator by the reciprocal of the denominator.

Phase Shift: $0 \cdot 2$

Step 4.4

Multiply $0$ by $2$ .

Phase Shift: $0$

Step 5

List the properties of the trigonometric function.

Amplitude: None

Period: $2 π$

Phase Shift: None

Vertical Shift: $- 2$

Step 6