Name: _________________________________ #: _____

Date: ____________________________ Period: _____

Graphing Sine and Cosine

Setup
1. Go to www.desmos.com/calculator
2. Click on the wrench in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

a. Make sure Degrees is highlighted at the bottom.

b. Click here to change the x interval from 360
step to 45 .

to

360 . Change the

c. Do the same for the y -axis, but make the interval from
the step 1 .
d. Click anywhere on the screen to close the wrench box.

to

and

Exploration Part I
1. Click in the dialogue box to the left. Graph y=sin ( ) . To get the theta simply
type y=sin(theta).
2. Hit enter, then graph y=cos ( ) . The two graphs should appear in different colors.
3. List any differences and similarities you notice between the graph of the sine
function and the graph of the cosine function.
Similarities

Differences

Exploration Part 2
1. Click inside the parentheses of

y=cos ( )

and add -h

2. A button will appear to add a slider. Click the button to add.

3. Click on the -10 by the slider and change it to -360. Change the 10 to 360. Change
the step to 45.
4. Play with the slider a little bit. What does the h value do to the graph of cosine?
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5. Use the slider until the two graphs overlap. What cosine function makes the same
graph as the sine function (write your cosine equation with the correct h value)?
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Exploration Part 3
1. Erase all functions except

y=sin ( ) . Add an a in front of sin.

2. Again, add a slider for a.

3. Play around with the slider. What do you notice about a? Be as specific as possible.
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Exploration Part 4
1. Erase the a from your function. Add an b in front of

2. Again, click the button to add a slider.

3. Play around with the slider. What do you notice about b? Be as specific as possible.
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4. Complete the following statements:
a. As b increases, the graph of sin ( )
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b. As b decreases, the graph of sin ( )
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Exploration Part 5
1. Erase all the functions and start with y=cos ( ) +k .
2. Add a slider for k.
3. Play with the slider a little bit. What does the k value do to the graph of cosine?
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Predictions

For each of the following equations, predict what will happen to the original sine or cosine
graph when the transformations are applied before graphing. Then, graph the function
to determine if your prediction was correct.

y=2 sin ( )
Prediction:

Was your prediction correct?

y=cos ( 3 )
Prediction:

Was your prediction correct?

y=sin ( 90 )
Prediction:

Was your prediction correct?

y=3 sin ( )
Prediction:

Was your prediction correct?

y=sin ( + 45 )2
Prediction:

Was your prediction correct?

Conclusion
Do your best to identify how each of the variables a, b, h, and k change the graph of sine
or cosine.

y=a sin ( bh ) +k