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Secant, Cosecant, Cotangent

Part of the Trig Identities section of Coddy's Trigonometry journey. Lesson 5 of 48.

Secant, cosecant and cotangent are 1 divided by functions you know: sec⁡(x)=1cos⁡(x)\sec\left(x\right) = \frac{1}{\cos\left(x\right)}, csc⁡(x)=1sin⁡(x)\csc\left(x\right) = \frac{1}{\sin\left(x\right)}, cot⁡(x)=cos⁡(x)sin⁡(x)\cot\left(x\right) = \frac{\cos\left(x\right)}{\sin\left(x\right)}. To simplify, write everything with sines and cosines. For example:

tan⁡(x)csc⁡(x)=sin⁡(x)cos⁡(x)1sin⁡(x)=1cos⁡(x)\tan\left(x\right)\csc\left(x\right) = \frac{\sin\left(x\right)}{\cos\left(x\right)}\frac{1}{\sin\left(x\right)} = \frac{1}{\cos\left(x\right)}

The sines cancel, and 1cos⁡(x)\frac{1}{\cos\left(x\right)} is sec⁡(x)\sec\left(x\right). To divide by a fraction, turn it upside down and multiply: abc=acb\frac{a}{\frac{b}{c}} = a\frac{c}{b}.

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Challenge

Show that sec⁡(x)tan⁡(x)\frac{\sec\left(x\right)}{\tan\left(x\right)} equals csc⁡(x)\csc\left(x\right). Rewrite it until it reads csc x.

Then press Check.

Try it yourself

sec⁡xtan⁡x\frac{\sec x}{\tan x}

Rewrite as csc⁡x\csc x

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