Trigonometric Functions
• sin(z), cos(z), tan(z), csc(z), sec(z), cot(z)—Return the trigonometric functions sine, cosine, tangent, cosecant, secant, and cotangent of z respectively.
As x approaches 0, sin(x)/ x returns 1 when x is used as the argument to sin and as the denominator in the fraction, or if the same function f(x) = 0 is used as both argument and denominator. In the case where g(x) = sin(x) and f(x) = x, g(x) / f(x) returns 0 following the normal rules for the fraction 0/0. If you wish to guarantee you get the correct behavior, use sinc.
• sinc(z)—Evaluates sin(z)/z = 1 as z approaches 0.
Arguments
• z is a dimensionless scalar in radians, or a vector of scalars.
The value of π on a computer is only an approximation, so when z is a multiple of π, the result returned is an approximation of the correct value.
An error is returned when z >1012 in magnitude or when z is close to π/2 for the tan function.