All ACT Math Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #3051 : Act Math
Two drivers race to a finish line. Driver A drives north blocks, and east blocks and crosses the goal. Driver B drives the shortest direct route between the two points. Relative to east, what is the cosine of the angle at which Driver B raced? Round to the nearest .
If the point to be reached is blocks north and blocks east, then we may envision a right triangle with sides and , and hypotenuse . The Pythagorean Theorem tells us that , so we plug in and find that:
Thus,
Now, SOHCAHTOA tells us that , so we know that:
Thus, our cosine is approximately .
Example Question #1 : How To Find The Period Of The Cosine
A function with period P will repeat on intervals of length P, and these intervals are referred to as periods.
Find the period of the function
.
For the function
the period is equal to
or in this case
which reduces to .
Example Question #2 : How To Find The Period Of The Cosine
A function with period P will repeat on intervals of length P, and these intervals are referred to as periods.
Find the period of the function
.
For the function
the period is equal to
or in this case
which reduces to .
Example Question #3051 : Act Math
A function with period P will repeat on intervals of length P, and these intervals are referred to as periods.
Find the period of the function
.
For the function
the period is equal to
or in this case
which reduces to .
Example Question #4 : How To Find The Period Of The Cosine
A function with period will repeat its solutions in intervals of length .
What is the period of the function ?
For a trigonometric function , the period is equal to . So, for , .
Example Question #5 : How To Find The Period Of The Cosine
A function with period will repeat its solutions in intervals of length .
What is the period of the function ?
For a trigonometric function , the period is equal to . So, for , .
Example Question #141 : Trigonometry
A function with period will repeat its solutions in intervals of length .
What is the period of the function ?
For a trigonometric function , the period is equal to . So, for , .
Example Question #1 : How To Find The Range Of The Cosine
Simplify (cosΘ – sinΘ)2
1 + sin2Θ
sin2Θ – 1
1 + cos2Θ
cos2Θ – 1
1 – sin2Θ
1 – sin2Θ
Multiply out the quadratic equation to get cosΘ2 – 2cosΘsinΘ + sinΘ2
Then use the following trig identities to simplify the expression:
sin2Θ = 2sinΘcosΘ
sinΘ2 + cosΘ2 = 1
1 – sin2Θ is the correct answer for (cosΘ – sinΘ)2
1 + sin2Θ is the correct answer for (cosΘ + sinΘ)2
Example Question #1 : How To Find The Range Of The Cosine
Which of the following represents a cosine function with a range of to ?
The range of a cosine wave is altered by the coefficient placed in front of the base equation. So, if you have , this means that the highest point on the wave will be at and the lowest at ; however, if you then begin to shift the equation vertically by adding values, as in, , then you need to account for said shift. This would make the minimum value to be and the maximum value to be .
For our question, the range of values covers . This range is accomplished by having either or as your coefficient. ( merely flips the equation over the -axis. The range "spread" remains the same.) We need to make the upper value to be instead of . To do this, you will need to subtract , or , from . This requires an downward shift of . An example of performing a shift like this is:
Among the possible answers, the one that works is:
The parameter does not matter, as it only alters the frequency of the function.
Example Question #1 : How To Find The Range Of The Cosine
Which of the following represents a cosine function with a range from to ?
The range of a cosine wave is altered by the coefficient placed in front of the base equation. So, if you have , this means that the highest point on the wave will be at and the lowest at ; however, if you then begin to shift the equation vertically by adding values, as in, , then you need to account for said shift. This would make the minimum value to be and the maximum value to be .
For our question, the range of values covers . This range is accomplished by having either or as your coefficient. ( merely flips the equation over the -axis. The range "spread" remains the same.) We need to make the upper value to be instead of . This requires an upward shift of . An example of performing a shift like this is:
Among the possible answers, the one that works is: