Pre-Calculus All-in-One For Dummies

Chapter 11

Graphing and Transforming Trig Functions

IN THIS CHAPTER

Plotting and transforming parent functions by stretching and flattening

Picturing and changing parent functions by shifting about

Altering parent functions with reflections

In Chapter 10, you are introduced to the six parent trig functions, how they behave, where they exist, what their features are, and how they look when graphed.

This chapter shows you how to start with the parent graphs — the foundation on which all the other graphs are built. From there, you can stretch a trig function graph, move it around on the coordinate plane, or flip and shrink it. All of this is covered in this chapter.

Transforming Trig Graphs

The basic parent graphs open the door to many more advanced and interesting graphs, which ultimately have more real-world applications. Usually, the graphs of functions that model real-world situations are stretched, shrunk, or even shifted to an entirely different location on the coordinate plane. The good news is that the transformation of trig functions follows the same set of general guidelines as the transformations you see in Chapter 4.

The rules for graphing transformed trig functions ...