BQ#4 – Unit T Concept 3

Why is a “normal” tangent graph uphill, but a “normal” COtangent graph downhill? Use unit circle ratios to explain. Now let me tell you why...

A: During class our teacher Mrs. Kirch stood up explaining why a "normal" tangent graph is uphill and that's because tangent has asymptotes where cosine is zero. So its asymptotes are located at 90 degrees(π/2) and 270 degrees(3π/2). Okay, so the graph on the left of the screen is a tangent graph. What you see is that it starts off as -, +, -, + and it just repeats on forever. 

A: Cotangent have asymptotes where their respective ratios are equal to zero. Cotangent's parent asymptotes are thus at 0 and π (the two points on the unit circle where the "y" value is 0). It's also just the reciprocal of tangent so the graph literally just switches upside down.