83.4k views
5 votes
Is tan^-1(a) equivalent to (tan(a))^-1? explain why or why not.

1 Answer

1 vote

Answer:

No. The reciprocal of a function is rarely the same as the inverse of the function.

Explanation:

tan^1(a) signifies the arctangent function, the function that returns the angle for a given tangent value of a.

tan(a)^-1 signifies the reciprocal of the tangent function, which is the definition of the cotangent function.

The attached graph compares the two functions.

Is tan^-1(a) equivalent to (tan(a))^-1? explain why or why not.-example-1
User Treze
by
6.6k points