Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The tangent of half an angle is important in spherical trigonometry and was sometimes known in the 17th century as the half tangent or semi-tangent. [2] Leonhard Euler used it to evaluate the integral ∫ d x / ( a + b cos x ) {\textstyle \int dx/(a+b\cos x)} in his 1768 integral calculus textbook , [ 3 ] and Adrien-Marie Legendre described ...
An osculating curve from a given family of curves is a curve that has the highest possible order of contact with a given curve at a given point; for instance a tangent line is an osculating curve from the family of lines, and has first-order contact with the given curve; an osculating circle is an osculating curve from the family of circles ...
Plot of f(x) = sin(2x) from − π /4 to 5 π /4; the second derivative is f″(x) = –4sin(2x), and its sign is thus the opposite of the sign of f. Tangent is blue where the curve is convex (above its own tangent), green where concave (below its tangent), and red at inflection points: 0, π /2 and π
inflection point In differential calculus, an inflection point, point of inflection, flex, or inflection (British English: inflexion) is a point on a continuous plane curve at which the curve changes from being concave (concave downward) to convex (concave upward), or vice versa. instantaneous rate of change
The calculus of variations may be said to begin with Newton's minimal resistance problem in 1687, followed by the brachistochrone curve problem raised by Johann Bernoulli (1696). [2] It immediately occupied the attention of Jacob Bernoulli and the Marquis de l'Hôpital , but Leonhard Euler first elaborated the subject, beginning in 1733.
The angle between the horizontal line and the shown diagonal is 1 / 2 (a + b). This is a geometric way to prove the particular tangent half-angle formula that says tan 1 / 2 (a + b) = (sin a + sin b) / (cos a + cos b). The formulae sin 1 / 2 (a + b) and cos 1 / 2 (a + b) are the ratios of the actual distances to ...
In mathematics, the limit comparison test (LCT) (in contrast with the related direct comparison test) is a method of testing for the convergence of an infinite series. Statement [ edit ]
Illustration of the sine and tangent inequalities. The figure at the right shows a sector of a circle with radius 1. The sector is θ/(2 π) of the whole circle, so its area is θ/2. We assume here that θ < π /2. = = = =