cotangent (redirected from cotangents)

co·tan·gent  (k-tnjnt) n. Abbr. cot 1. The reciprocal of the tangent of an angle in a right triangle. 2. The tangent of the complement of a directed angle or arc. cotan·gential (-jnshl) adj.

cotangent cot = b/a

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cotangent

Noun

(in trigonometry) the ratio of the length of the adjacent side to that of the opposite side in a right-angled triangle

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cotangent  (k-tnjnt)

1. The ratio of the length of the adjacent side of an acute angle in a right triangle to the length of the opposite side. The cotangent is the inverse of the tangent.

2. The ratio of the ordinate to the abscissa of the endpoint of an arc of a unit circle centered at the origin of a Cartesian coordinate system, the arc being of length x and measured counterclockwise from the point (1, 0) if x is positive or clockwise if x is negative.

3. A function of a number x, equal to the cotangent of an angle whose measure in radians is equal to x.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

cotangent - ratio of the adjacent to the opposite side of a right-angled triangle cotan circular function, trigonometric function - function of an angle expressed as a ratio of the length of the sides of right-angled triangle containing the angle