Graphing Tangent Function

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You will need to plan a series of points and then draw a smooth curve through those points to graph the tangent function.

Find a step-by-step guide to graphing the tangent function here:

  1. Write the function in the form y = tan(x).
  2. Select a series of values for x and calculate the corresponding values for y. The tangent function is described for all values of x, so you can pick any series of x-values that you want. For each value of x, calculate the corresponding value of y using the formula y = tan(x).
  3. Device the points on the graph. On the x-axis, plan the values of x that you chose in step 2. On the y-axis, plan the corresponding values of y.
  4. Draw a smooth curve through the points. The tangent function has a wave-like shape, with asymptotes (lines that the function approaches but never touches) at x = (n + 1/2)π, where n is an integer. Connect the points along a smooth curve that looks like the function's overall shape to create the curve.

It is vital to remember that the tangent function is periodic, which means it repeats itself after a certain interval. The interval of repetition is called the period of the function, and for the tangent function, the period is π. This means that the graph of the tangent function will look similar for all values of x that differ by an integer multiple of π.

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